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CLIFE 


ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


WITH     SOME 


ACCOUNT  OF  THE  RISE  AND  PROGRESS 


OF     TU  E 


CURRENT   REFORMATION. 


BY  JOHN  AUGUSTUS   WILLIAMS, 

n 

Pretident  of  the  Daughters'  College,  Harrodtburg,  Sy. 


"  TThit  a  great  TaiVire,  after  all,  wonM  ray  long  aid  checkered  life  bare  been,  bat  for  this  (lortoafl 
hope  of  a  hereafter !  "— *jrU»  <rar<b  «/  Jo«x  Sum. 


CINCINNATI: 
R.  W.  CARROLL  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS, 

117  WEIT  FOURTH  STREET. 
1870. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1870,  by 
R.  W.    CARROLL   &   CO., 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
Southern  District  of  Ohio. 


TO 
GENERAL  SAMUEL  L.  WILLIAMS, 

OF 

Montgomery  County,  Kentucky  ; 
AND  TO 

CHARLES  E.  WILLIAMS,  M.  D., 

or  TUB 

Daughters'  College,  Kentucky; 

WHO,  FOB  FIFTY  TEARS,  WERE  THE  STEADFAST  FRIEXDS  OT 

ELDER  JOHN   SMITH, 

IN  HIS  WEAKNESS  AND  IN  HIS  STRENGTH,  THROUGH  EVIL  AND  THROUGH  GOOD  BEPORT, 

AICD  TO   WHOM 

THAT  FAITHFUL  MAN  OF  GOD  GAVE,  IN  BETUBN, 
THE  WABMTH  AND  RICHNESS  OF  A  BROTHEB'S  LOVE  TILL  DEATH, 

THIS  VOLUME 
IS  AFFECTIONATELY  INSCRIBED 

BY 

THE  A UTHOR. 


PREFACE. 


MANY  of  the  incidents  related  in  the  following  pages  were 
detailed  to  the  Author  by  ELDER  SMITH.  While  they  are,  for 
the  most  part,  of  a  personal  character,  their  bearing  on  certain 
great  religious  events,  and  their  influence  on  the  cause  to  which 
that  remarkable  man  devoted  his  life,  give  them  some  historical 
interest  and  importance.  From  necessity,  therefore,  rather  than 
from  any  design  in  the  beginning,  the  writer  has  evolved  from 
his  subject  a  history,  in  part,  of  the  origin  and  progress  of  the 
Reformation  in  Kentucky,  which,  notwithstanding  its  imperfec- 
tions, he  hopes  will  be  acceptable  to  those  of  every  name  who 
are  interested  in  the  study  or  in  the  defense  of  the  Faith  once 
delivered  to  the  saints. 

He  acknowledges  with  pleasure  his  indebtedness  to  many  who, 
in  various  ways,  aided  him  in  collecting  materials  for  the  work. 
He  begs  leave  to  mention,  in  a  special  manner,  the  kindness 
of  Elders  Absalom  Rice,  Jacob  Coons,  Wm.  J.  Mason,  Hiram 
M.  Bledsoe,  D.  T.  Wright,  Oliver  C.  Steele,  M.  Y.  Duncan, 
Esq.,  and  Mrs.  Emma  S.  Ringo,  of  Missouri;  Elder  James 
Challen,  of  Iowa;  Elders  John  P.  Thompson  and  Oliver  P. 
Badger,  of  Indiana;  Elders  Henry  T.  Anderson  and  Robert 
Richardson,  of  Virginia;  Elder  F.  W.  Emmons, of  Massachu- 
setts ;  Elder  Philip  S.  Fall,  of  Tennessee ;  Mrs.  Maria  M.  Lee, 

(5) 


6  PREFACE. 

Mrs.  Belle  D.  Simrall,  Mrs.  Margaret  Stephenson,  Mrs.  Caro- 
line Wheeler,  Miss  Sophronia  Vickery,  Miss  Ella  Moore,  Miss 
Mannie  Powell,  Miss  Rebecca  Henderson,  A.  Ward,  John 
Bowman,  Elijah  Threlkeld,  Archibald  Redd,  James  G.  Arnold, 
William  Van  Pelt,  Andrew  Steele,  Landon  J.  Thomas,  Esq., 
James  Harlan,  Esq.,  Thomas  Hansford,  Joseph  Wasson,  Aaron 
Mitchell,  Waller  Small,  Joseph  Chinn,  George  Carpenter, 
Samuel  Carrington,  Dillard  Hazelrigg,  Elders  Isaac  T.  Reneau, 
John  D.  Steele,  Josiah  Collins,  Samuel  W.  Crutcher,  William 
Jarrott,  John  A.  Brooks,  Aylett  Raines,  John  Rogers,  John  I. 
Rogers,  L.  L.  Pinkerton,  George  W.  Elley,  John  S.  Higgins, 
Curtis  J.  Smith,  and  A.  Adams,  of  Kentucky,  and  Isaac  Errett, 
of  Ohio. 

He  would  likewise  very  gratefully  acknowledge  the  valuable 
assistance  of  Miss  Mary  E.  Whittington,  of  the  Daughters'  Col- 
lege, during  the  composition  and  revision  of  the  work.  But 
for  the  aid  of  her  pen  in  transcribing  the  MS.  for  the  press, 
its  publication,  owing  to  the  engagements  of  the  Author,  \fbuld 
have  been  much  longer  delayed. 

JOHN  AUGUSTUS  WILLIAMS. 
_^F  , 

•*-*%*. 

~\         T"« 

DAUGHTERS'  COLLEGE,  April t  1870 

* 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I.  PAGE 

Birth,  Parentage,  and  Early  Childhood II 

CHAPTER   II. 
First  School — Early  Calvinism ax 

CHAPTER   III. 
Removal  to  Kentucky — Youthful  Employments — Education — Card-playing..     28 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Harpes — Great  Revival — Death  of  Father — Responsibilities 41 

CHAPTER  V. 
Seeks  Religion — Experience — Baptism — Desire  to  Preach — At  School 55 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Zeal — Religious  Doubts — Attempts  to  Speak  in  Public — Removes  to  Wayne 

— Marries — House-keeping — Call  to  the  Ministry 70 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Ordination — Doctrine — At  School  again 87 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Seeks  a  better  Habitation — Speculation — Worldly   Ambition — Removes  to 

Alabama — Sad  Calamity — Cold  Plague 96 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Returns  to  Kentucky — Preaches  at  Crab-Orchard — Raccoons HO 

CHAPTER  X. 
Fullerism — Change  of  Views — Nancy  Hurt — Visits  Northern  Kentucky — 

Marries  again Il8 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Union  of  Regular  and  Separate  Baptists — North  District  Association — David 

Barrow — Jeremiah  Vardeman — Removal  to  Montgomery  County 124 

(7) 


8  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XII.  TAG* 

Churches  of  Montgomery — Buys  a  Farm — Moses  Higgins  and  the  Shakers..  1 34 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Financial  Difficulties — Visits  Alabama — Entanglement  at  Spencer 142 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Alexander  Campbell — "Christian  Baptist" — Investigation 148 

CHAPTER   XV. 
Interview  with  Alexander  Campbell..... .' ,,..   161 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Change  of  Views — Counts  the  Cost — Preaches  the  Ancient  Gospel — New 

Translation — Opposition  ...., , , .7 ,..    170 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Lulbegrud — Opposition  organized — North  District  Association  meets  at  Can* 

Spring — Charges  preferred — Case  laid  over  for  One  Year 179 

CHAPTER   XVIII. 

Gives  himself  to  the  Cause — Jacob  Coons  and  Absalom  Rice — Arouses  the 

Churches — Intemperate  Zeal 191 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
Creeds  as  Bonds  of  Union — Ancient  Gospel  and  Order — Manner  of  meeting 

the  Opposition 203 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Schism — Ancient  Gospel  restored — Churches  of  Christ  organized — Method- 
ism— Violence  threatened 216 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
Debate  with  Dr.  Fishback — Among  the  Methodists..... 227 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Mrs.  Smith's  Sacrifices — The  Clergy — Jeremiah  Vardeman — Jacob  Creath — 

William  Morton — George  W.  Elley , 237 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
Boone's  Creek  Association — Bracken — North  District  meets  at  Lulbegrud — 

Triumph 247 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Bracken  and  Licking — John  P.  Thompson — Boone's  Creek — Her  Constitu- 
tion— Hiram  Bledsoe — Curtis  J.  Smith , 258 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Silas  M.  Noel — Raccoon  John  Smith  at  Frankfort — At  David  Chenault's — 

Division  at  Grassy  Lick — Somerset 276 


CONTENTS.  9 

CHAPTER  XXVI.  PAGE 

Reasons  for  leaving  the  Baptists — North  District  convenes  at  Unity — Re- 
solves to  Divide — Elkhorn  at  Lexington — Tate's  Creek  at  Red  Lick...  291 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Bracken  convenes  at  Poplar  Run — William  Vaughn — Boone's  Creek  meets 
at  Hind's  Creek — Constitution  sustained — James  French — Disciples  at 
Mt.  Zion — Vardeman's  Defection 302 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
Jacob    Creath,    Jr. — The    Creed    Question — Clear    Creek    Church — Creath 

indorsed  by  Smith — Great  Crossings — Letter  to  Thomas  Henderson....    314 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
John  Taylor — Clerical  House-breaker — The  Beaver  Decrees — South  Benson..   323 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

Caivinists  in  Council  at  Lulbegrud — At  Goshen — Baptist  Customs — Frank- 
lin Association — Reformation  denounced 334 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
Reformers  gather  at  Spencer — Reply  to  their  Opponents 352 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 
Elkhorn  Association  at  Silas — Turbulent  Session — Reformers  cast  out 365 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
Tate's    Creek   Association    divided — Reformers    cast  out — Their  Defense — 

Bracken  divides 376 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Boone's  Creek  divides — Indiscretions — Legalism — John  D.  Steele — Refor- 
mation in  the  Green  River  Valley 388 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 
Visits  Stockton's  Valley — Interview  with  his  old  Calvinistic  Friends — With 

Isaac  Denton — With  his  Mother — Isaac  T.  Renau — At  Monticello....   400 

CHAPTER  XXXVI 
North  District  dissolved  at  Somerset — Address  to  the  Churches 415 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Baptist  Customs — South  Elkhorn  Church  accused  and  condemned — Tate's 
Creek  Association — Called  to  Monticello — The  Cause  established — 
Design  of  Baptism 422 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
Ar'uns — The  Christians  and  the  Disciples — Barton  W.  Stone— Ground  of 

Union 418 


10  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXXIX.  PAGE 

John  T.  Johnson — Union  proposed — Discussed — Accomplished... 447 

CHAPTER  XL. 
Smith  as  an  Evangelist — His  Address  to  the  Brethren 461 

CHAPTER  XLI. 
Tour  to  Stockton's  Valley — First  Fruits — At  Sparta 471 

CHAPTER  XLII. 
General    Labors  —  First    Annual    Meeting  —  Boone's    Creek — Creeds — Ear- 

marks^Form  and  Substance  483 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 
Text-Preaching — Smith's  Style  of  Preaching — Baptism 496 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 

Conference  at  Dry  Run — Violent  Opposition — Fork's  Church — Mt.  Pleas- 
ant Church — Cholera — Great  Success  in  1833 504 

CHAPTER  XLV. 
Evangelizes  in  1834 — Debate  with  Whitney — Greek  and  Cherokee 516 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 
Tour  Southward — Cooperation — Controversy  with  Stephenson — Removes  to 

Owingsville — New  Scheme  of  Evangelizing 528 

CHAPTER  XLVII. 

Political  Opinions — R.  M.  Menifee — Disaffection — James  G.  Arnold — State 

Meeting  at  Harrodsburg — Controversy  about  Name 538 

I 

CHAPTER   XLVIII. 

General  Labors — Characteristics — St.  Louis — Sad  Affliction — Removes  to 
Mount  Sterling — Dissensions — Removes  to  Georgetown — Peace  and 
Reconciliation  546 

CHAPTER  XLIX. 
Elder  of  the  Church  at  Georgetown — His  continued  Usefulness — Anecdotes.  555 

CHAPTER  L. 

Death  of  Mrs.  Smith — Lives  with  his  Children — His  Biography — Visits 
Missouri — The  "  Oath  of  Loyalty  " — His  Arrest — Last  Days  in  Ken- 
tucky— Return  to  Missouri , 559 

CHAPTER  LI. 
His 'Labors   in   Missouri — His    Sickness — Last    Words — Death — Traits  of 

Character — His  Grave , 570 


LIFE  OF 

ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Parentage — Removal  to  the  West — Birth — Commonwealth  of  Franklin — Family 
Government — Religious  Faith — Books — Peculiar  Honesty — Love  of  Order — • 
Early  Industry  of  John — No  Rest  except  on  Sunday — His  Mother's  Charac- 
ter— Pioneer  Wife  and  Mother — Household — His  Mother's  Wit  and  Humor. 

ELDER  JOHN  SMITH  was  born  on  the  I5th  of  October, 
1784,  in  Sullivan  County,  East  Tennessee. 

George  Smith,  or  Schmidt,  the  father  of  Elder  Smith, 
was  the  only  son  of  German  parents,  who  came  to  Virginia 
about  the  year  1735,  and  settled  near  the  head- waters  of 
the  James  River.  George  was  early  left  an  orphan,  with- 
out kindred  or  friends,  a  lonely  boy  in  a  strange  land,  and 
among  a  strange  people.  But  he  soon  found  in  Colonel 
Buchanan,  who  was  an  enterprising  farmer  of  Botetourt 
County,  a  master  and  friend ;  he  was  taken  as  an  appren- 
tice into  the  family  of  that  gentleman,  and  faithfully  brought 
up  to  usefulness  and  virtue.  In  due  time,  he  married  Re- 
becca Bowen,  an  Iri^ft  maiden,  strongly  characterized,  it 
seems,  by  the  peculiar  sensibilities  of  her  people.  A 
small  farm  was  bought,  or  a  piece  of  forest  was  inclosed 

. 


12  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

and  cultivated;  and,  in  a  few  years,  his  labors  were  re- 
warded with  comfort  and  thrift.  His  humble  home  was 
made  pleasant  by  a  cheerful  wife,  and  healthful  children 
blessed  his  riper  manhood.  In  the  midst  of  his  prosperity, 
however,  the  war  with  England  began.  Leaving  his  plow 
to  his.  sturdy  boys,  and  the  general  care  of  the  farm  and 
family  to  his  wife,  he  shouldered  his  musket,  and  went  out 
to  bear  his  part  in  the  struggle  for  Independence. 

On  the  return  of  peace,  he  gave  himself  entirely  to  the 
work  of  providing  for  his  family.  Before  the  war,  he  had 
often  thought  of  the  growing  settlements  beyond  the 
mountains ;  and  now,  anticipating  the  wants  of  his  large 
and  increasing  family,  he  determined  to  remove  to  the 
wilderness  of  the  more  distant  West. 

Other  circumstances  encouraged  him  in  this  determina- 
tion. He  was  a  zealous  member  of  the  strictest  sect  of  the 
Virginia  Baptists ;  and  though  his  brethren  were  numer- 
ous in  the  State,  yet  their  doctrine  and  manners  had  always 
been  offensive  to  the  local  authorities,  who  were  devoted 
to  the  interests  of  the  Established  Church.  The  harshest 
means  had  been  used  to  silence  the  bold  advocates  of  Im- 
mersion and  Calvinism.  Before  the  war  they  had  been 
bitterly  persecuted ;  they  had  been  outraged  and  impris- 
oned, sometimes  on  no  other  charge  than  that  they  were 
an  annoyance  to  the  country,  and  disturbers  of  the  peace 
by  their  zeal  as  preachers.  The  Revolution,  it  is  true,  se- 
cured religious  equality  to  the  people;  but  the  prejudices 
of  other  days  remained,  and  proscription  for  opinion's  sake 
was  not  even  yet  at  an  end.  Under  such  circumstances 
the  rich  wilds  of  the  West,  now  secure,  as  was  supposed, 
from  the  incursions  of  the  savage,  seemed  to  invite  thither 
the  Predestinarians  of  Virginia  to  become  the  pioneers  of 
a  more  democratic  religion. 

Early  in  1784.  therefore,  George  Smith,  with  his  wife  and 


HIS  BIRTH.  13 

eight  children,  sons  and  daughters,  helped  to  swell  the  tide 
of  immigration  that  was  flowing  westward  into  the  valley 
of  the  Holston.  On  the  banks  of  that  river,  after  a  toil- 
some journey  along  the  old  Indian  trace  that  led  to  the 
south-west,  he  found,  at  last,  a  pleasant  spot,  a  cabin,  and 
repose.  In  that  cabin,  in  the  autumn  of  1784,  as  already 
stated,  JOHN  SMITH  was  born,  the  ninth  of  thirteen  children. 

We  ought,  perhaps,  to  say,  that  he  was  a  native  of  the 
State  of  Franklin,  an  unacknowledged,  though  duly  organ- 
ized commonwealth  of  the  olden  time,  whose  brief  annals 
make  up  a  curious  but  interesting  chapter  in  the  history 
of  the  West. 

Sullivan  and  the  adjoining  counties,  at  that  time  the 
most  populous  portion  of  the  Western  Territory  of  North 
Carolina,  occupying  nearly  the  limits  of  what  i's  now  East 
Tennessee,  had  been  ceded  by  North  Carolina  to  the  Gen- 
eral Government,  in  June,  1784.  Congress  did  not  for 
some  time  accept  the  deed  of  cession.  A  convention  of 
delegates  from  the  ceded  territory  was  in  the  meantime 
held,  to  consider  what  course  the  people  ought  to  pursue 
in  view  of  their  political  orphanage.  Separated  by  moun- 
tains and  a  vast  wilderness  from  the  mother  State,  which 
had,  in  effect,  abandoned  them,  uncertain  of  their  adop- 
tion by  the  Federal  Government,  and  exposed,  in  the  mean- 
time, to  the  incursions  of  the  Cherokees,  they  resolved  to 
secede  from  North  Carolina,  and  to  organize  themselves 
into  a  separate  and  independent  State.  A  Constitution 
was  adopted  by  the  people,  and  the  State  went  formally 
into  operation,  under  the  style  of  The  Commonwealth  of 
Franklin,  a  name  assumed  in  honor  of  Dr.  Benjamin 
Franklin,  of  Philadelphia.* 

But  the  State  of  North  Carolina  soon  repealed  her  act 

*  Ramsay. 


14          LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

of  cession,  and  reasserted  her  authority  over  the  revolted 
counties  by  stern  legislation,  and  eventually  by  arms.  A 
part  of  the  colonies  adhered  to  the  mother  State ;  the  rest, 
under  the  leadership  of  Governor  Sevier,  refused  to  return 
to  a  condition  of  territorial  dependence.  Fierce  revolu- 
tionary strife  ensued.  The  angry  partisan  and  the  treach- 
erous savage  kept  the  popular  mind  excited  continually, 
either  with  fear  or  with  the  animosities  of  faction.  Peace- 
ful enterprise  was  at  an  end.  The  social  dissensions  which 
sprung  up  between  the  new  and  the  old  State  men  were 
most  disastrous.  The  principle  of  loyalty  on  the  one  side, 
was  incessantly  at  war  with  the  passion  of  patriotism  on 
the  other.  One  party  sent  delegates  to  the  General  As- 
sembly of  Franklin ;  the  other  was  duly  represented  at  the 
capitol  of  North  Carolina.  Rival  courts  sat  in  each  county ; 
taxes  were  levied  and  militia  were  enrolled  by  both  States  ; 
in  fine,  before  the  four  years  of  Governor  Sevier's  admin- 
istration expired,  the  two  conflicting  governments,  clashing 
in  every  department,  had  well  nigh  reduced  the  aspiring 
young  State  to  anarchy  and  ruin. 

George  Smith  was  a  quiet,  grave,  and  diffident  man.  He 
loved  peace  too  well  to  quarrel  with  his  neighbors,  and  was 
too  much  engaged  in  the  work  of  clearing  his  fields  to  be- 
come a  partisan  in  the  politics  of  the  day.  During  the 
four  years  of  trouble,  therefore,  he  remained  at  home,  and, 
with  the  help  of  his  older  boys,  converted  his  forest,  acre 
by  acre,  into  field.  His  farm  was  not  large,  but  ample 
enough  for  his  force.  He  owned  no  slaves.  He  loved  toil 
himself,  and  looked  upon  idleness  as  a  vice,  and  upon  de- 
pendence on  others  as  the  greatest  misfortune ;  he  feared, 
therefore,  to  take  a  slave  into  his  family,  lest  his  children 
should  become  helpless  and  haughty,  and  learn  to  despise 
labor.  Urged  on  one  occasion  to  secure  an  interest  in 
some  slaves  that  were  offered  to  him,  almost  as  a  gift,  he 


GEORGE  SMITH'S  RELIGIOUS  FAITH.  1 5 

declined  to  enrich  himself  in  that  way,  saying,  that  they 
might  spoil  his  boys,  and  that  he  would  not  have  a  lazy 
son  or  an  idle  daughter  for  all  the  slaves  in  the  Carolinas. 
Sometimes  his  older  sons  were  away  on  short  but  danger- 
ous campaigns  against  the  Indians,  and  he  was  left,  per- 
haps, at  seed-time  or  at  harvest,  to  do  alone  the  work  of  all. 
But  he  would  nerve  himself  for  the  task,  and  go  forth  alone 
to  bear  the  burden  of  the  day  and  the  heat.  His  life  was 
a  daily  round  of  simple,  earnest  toil,  undisturbed  by  fret- 
fulness  or  discontent.  His  quiet  energy  spent  itself  in 
cheerful,  plodding  industry.  He  was  a  man  of  few  words, 
and  of  even  temper — gentle  in  his  manners  and  tender  in 
his  feelings.  His  children  loved  his  society,  and  were  free 
and  natural  in  his  presence.  They  were  his  companions 
in  the  field  and  at  the  fireside.  He  never  scolded  them, 
and  seldom  even  reproved  them ;  but  his  kind  admonitions 
were  always  listened  to  with  respect.  In  the  government 
of  the  younger  members  of  his  family  he  spared  the  rod ; 
for  such  was  the  mildness  of  his  nature  that  he  had  not 
the  heart  to  use  it.  His  children  feared  to  offend  him ;  not 
that  they  dreaded  his  anger,  but  because  they  were  pained 
at  his  distress.  When  their  waywardness  called  for  re- 
proof, he  gave  them  a  kind  talk,  which  always  left  them 
full  of  tears  and  good  resolves. 

He  was  humble-minded  and  earnestly  pious.  He  held 
firmly,  but  without  bigotry,  every  dogma  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Confession  of  Faith,  as  it  was  expounded  in  his 
day.  He  conscientiously  sought,  too,  to  impress  his  own 
severe  faith  on  the  minds  of  his  children.  To  labor  for 
their  daily  bread,  and  to  wait,  with  humbleness  of  heart, 
for  the  Holy  Ghost,  were  the  two  great  commandments  on 
which  hung  all  his  precepts  and  admonitions.  He  exhorted 
them  to  seek  after  God,  if,  haply,  they  might  find  him ; 
yet  to  esteem  themselves  dead,  and  to  bide  the  good  time 


1 6  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

when,  unless  predestined  to  eternal  wrath,  the  mysterious 
Spirit  would  give  them  life,  and  open  their  eyes  to  the 
beauties  of  a  Saviour.  The  Bible,  the  Confession  of  Faith, 
and  a  collection  of  hymns,  were  all  the  books  that  he  owned 
or  read.  From  these  he  drew  the  inspiration  of  his  life, 
for  he  read  them  with  the  faith  and  reverence  of  a  childv 
On  Sunday,  when  the  loom  and  the  wheel  were  still,  and 
the  plow  stood  idle  in  the  furrow,  his  household,  in  clean 
attire,  loved  to  gather  around  him  at  the  cabin  door,  while 
he  read  to  them  from  the  sacred  page.  Thus  he  dropped 
the  precious  seed,  unwittingly,  perhaps,  into  hearts  un- 
cumbered,  as  yet,  with  the  thorns  and  thistles  of  life. 

His  kind-heartedness  was  felt  beyond  the  circle  of  his 
own  family.  In  the  days  of  social  and  political  distraction, 
when  jealousies  and  estrangements  abounded,  his  neighbors 
'  always  came  to  him  for  counsel  or  sympathy.  He  always 
gave  to  them  that  asked,  and  from  them  that  would  borrow 
he  never  turned  away.  His  honesty  in  dealing  was  scru- 
pulous, and,  in  some  of  its  phases,  peculiar.  He  could 
never  understand  the  commercial  value  which  demand 
gives  to  property.  With  him  things  had  their  intrinsic 
value  only,  which  he  thought  ought  to  regulate  their  price. 
He  used  to  say  that  a  bushel  of  grain  when  scarce,  could 
feed  no  more  than  when  the  harvest  was  plenty ;  and  that 
its  honest  worth  was  just  the  same.  Accordingly,  when 
corn  was  very  scarce,  and  his  neighbors  were  asking  and 
receiving  one  dollar  a  bushel,  he  still  refused  to  take  more 
than  the  good  old  price  of  two  and  sixpence. 

And  yet,  with  all  his  simple-hearted  goodness,  George 
Smith  was  neither  wasteful  nor  improvident  While  he 
dispensed  with  an  open  hand  to  all  that  needed,  he  was 
careful  to  see  to  the  fragments,  that  nothing  was  lost.  His 
economy  consisted  rather  in  not  wasting,  than  in  not  giv- 
ing. He  never  suffered  any  thing  to  go  to  ruin  on  his 


EARLY  INDUSTRY  OF  JOHN.  IJ 

farm,  or  in  his  house,  nor,  if  possible  to  prevent  it,  even  to 
wear  out.  He  mended  and  put  in  order,  till  things  seemed 
to  wear  better  from  use.  The  eye  of  the  visitor  saw  no 
shreds 'of  harness,  no  wrecks  of  implements,  no  tattered 
garments ;  every  thing  was  sound  and  ready  for  use.  A 
method  of  his  own  controlled  the  minutest  details  of  his 
business.  The  love  of  order  ruled  every-where,  not  as  a 
principle  merely,  but  as  a  passion.  Even  the  log  heaps  in 
the  forest,  the  rude  fencing,  the  furrows  in  the  field,  and 
every  trace  of  his  ax  and  knife,  betrayed  the  strength  of 
this  principle.  He  had  a  place  for  every  thing;  and,  in 
his  eye,  it  was  a  sin  to  lose,  and  almost  a  sacrilege  to 
displace. 

When  John  was  old  enough  to  run  about,  he  was  always 
with  his  father,  following  him  through  the  brushy  forest,  or 
along  the  fresh-made  furrows,  gleaning  after  him  in  the 
hot  wheat  fields,  or  helping  to  strip  the  fodder  from  the 
ripening  corn.  Although  he  was  the  household  pet,  he 
bore  his  part  in  the  drudgery  of  the  cabin  and  the  farm ; 
for,  in  those  days,  necessity  found  work  even  for  little 
hands  to  do.  Care  disciplined  the  young  hearts,  and  toil 
strengthened  the  feeble  muscles.  At  six  or  seven  years 
of  age  John's  term  of  service  began ;  and,  from  that  period 
of  his  life,  he  knew  no  idle  days.  He  gathered  chips  and 
fagots  in  the  forest,  and  piled  them  on  the  hearth ;  he 
hunted  the  shelly  bark  on  the  hills,  and  stored  it  away  for 
the  evening  blaze;  he  pulled  the  purple  crab-grass  from 
the  young  corn,  and  plied  his  light  hoe  among  the  garden 
vines.  Through  the  hot  summer  days  it  was  his  task  to 
run  again  and  again  down  the  long  grassy  hill  to  the  spring 
and  bring  back  the  dripping  piggin  for  lips  that  were  sure 
to  chide  him  for  the  least  delay.  No  day,  except  the  Sab- 
bath— no  season,  whether  of  heat  or  cold,  found  him  un- 
employed. Economy  provided  work  even  for  stormy  days. 


1 8  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

A  holiday  afternoon  was  sometimes  earned  by  the  exer- 
tions of  the  morning;  but  even  these  hours  of  freedom 
were  not  hours  of  mischief  or  of  indolence.  The  habit  of 
always  doing  something  useful  is  early  acquired;  and  for 
him  it  was  a  holiday  to  toil  in  his  own  little  garden,  to 
weed  among  his  vines,  and  to  count  his  thrifty  melons. 
When  autumn  came,  he  gathered  nuts  for  the  winter 
evening's  feast,  or  followed  his  older  brothers  in  their 
hunt  for  the  partridge  and  the  turkey  on  the  hills.  What- 
ever work  a  child  might  do,  was  left  to  be  done  by  him ; 
not  that  they  would  make  him  the  fag  of  the  household, 
or  would  avoid  trouble  themselves,  but  there  was  so  much 
work  for  father  and  brothers  to  do,  that  it  did  not  seem 
right  to  leave  him  unemployed,  and  to  bend  their  shoulders 
to  burdens  that  he  might  bear.  Under  these  circumstances 
it  was  not  possible  for  him  to  grow  up  in  idleness  or  de- 
pendence on  others.  In  fact,  he  did  not  know  what  idle- 
ness was,  for  he  never  saw  it  in  those  around  him. 

His  mother,  however,  was  not  satisfied  that  work  about 
the  house  went  quietly  on.  Whatever  her  hands  found  to 
do,  she  did  with  all  her  might,  and  every  one  around  her 
had  to  move  to  his  task  with  a  sprightliness  equal  to  her 
own.  She  was  a  nervous,  passionate  woman — an  imper- 
sonation of  restless  and  untiring  energy.  "  She  ate  not  the 
bread  of  idleness  herself,  and  she  looked  well  to  the  ways 
of  her  household."  While  John  saw  in  his  father's  life  a 
constant  example  of  patient  industry,  he  learned  from  his 
mother  to  throw  his  whole  soul  into  every  undertaking — 
to  move  quickly,  by  the  shortest  lines,  to  his  object — to 
leap  at  a  bound  over  obstacles,  and  to  carry  his  purpose 
through  every  difficulty,  without  compromise  or  delay. 
She  could  not,  from  her  very  nature,  endure  a  sluggard 
in  her  house ;  the  threatening  rod,  and  the  arousing  word, 
kept  up  the  glow  of  life  among  her  little  ones  from  dawn 


PIONEER   WIFE  AND  MOTHE&  19 

till  dark.  Those  whom  she  sent,  never  loitered  on  the 
way;  and  those  into  whose  hands  she  put  a  task,  knew 
better  than  to  pause  till  it  was  done. 

In  those  simple  times  the  mother  was  not  a  languid 
matron,  seated  in  luxurious  repose  within  her  mansion, 
surrounded  by  effeminate  sons  and  delicate  daughters. 
The  wife  shared  equally  with  her  husband  in  the  toils  and 
dangers  of  the  wilderness ;  she  bore,  with  cheerfulness,  the 
privations  of  his  rude  home,  and  brought  to  his  aid  a  sound 
judgment,  a  resolute  will,  and  skillful  hands.  She  hatch- 
eled  the  flax,  and  wove  the  linen  for  the  summer  clothing. 
She  carded  and  spun  the  wool,  and  made  the  flannel ;  her 
buzzing  wheel,  or  clattering  loom,  was  heard  in  her  cabin 
through  all  the  seasons  of  the  year.  She  milked  and 
tended  the  cows,  and  cooked  the  food  for  her  family.  The 
garden,  and  often  the  patch  beyond,  was  left  on  her  busy 
hands ;  and,  when  necessary,  she  wielded  the  hoe  as  skill- 
fully as  the  distaff  or  the  broom.  Necessity  taught  her 
many  inventions.  Wild  osier  twigs,  hickory  withes,  the 
oat-straw,  and  even  husks  of  corn,  were  useful  material  in 
her  ingenious  hands ;  hampers,  and  baskets,  and  mats, 
were  the  products  of  her  art;  while  the  squash,  or  the 
gourd,  the  soft  linden,  or  the  sweet  buckeye,  furnished  her 
hewed  table  with  its  bowls  and  trenchers. 

But  the  care  and  education  of  her  children  was  the 
heaviest  burden  on  the  heart  of  the  pioneer  mother.  She 
was  often  their  only  teacher.  The  school-master  was  not 
yet  abroad  in  the  land.  By  the  winter's  fire  her  little  ones 
conned  their  lessons  at  her  knees.  The  pastor  had  not 
yet  come  out  into  the  wilderness.  She  alone  must  watch 
over  the  young  lambs,  and  bring  them,  by  her  example  and 
prayers,  into  the  fold  of  the  Good  Shepherd.  The  great 
world  lay  far  away  in  the  distance ;  its  books,  and  tracts, 
and  papers,  were  unread  among  the  scattered  homes  of  the 


2O  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

frontier;  she  must  therefore  recall  the  readings  of  her 
girlish  days,  and  delight  her  children  with  stories  of  the 
past. 

The  mother  of  John  Smith  was  not  left  to  bear  alone 
the  weight  of  all  these  cares.  A  few  years  of  toil,  after 
the  removal  to  the  Territory,  was  sufficient  to  redeem  her 
home  from  the  poverty  of  the  settler's  hovel.  Much  had 
been  done  to  make  her  family  comfortable.  Already  the 
farm,  and  every  thing  on  it,  began  to  wear  a  prosperous  ap- 
pearance. Daughters,  dutiful  and  industrious,  were  grow- 
ing up  to  womanhood  around  her ;  and  sons  were  ready  to 
aid  her  in  every  domestic  enterprise.  At  the  time  that 
John  was  old  enough  to  be  set  to  work  in  earnest,  and 
when  his  education,  as  it  must  be  termed,  began,  she  was 
the  mother  of  a  well-governed  family  of  sons  and  daugh- 
ters, and  the  mistress  of  a  house,  as  comfortable  and  as 
well-appointed  as  any  in  all  the  country  around.  It  was  a 
double  cabin,  built  of  logs,  scalped  within  and  without,  and 
daubed  with  clay.  The  floor  was  laid  with  puncheons, 
smoothly  dubbed  with  the  adze ;  a  carpet,  or  a  rug,  was  a 
thing  unknown.  A  broad  hearth  was  laid  at  each  end  of 
the  house,  and  from  the  arches  above  the  low  chimneys 
were  carried  up  with  sticks  and  clay.  A  ladder  led  from  a 
corner  of  one  of  the  rooms  below  to  the  loft  above.  Shelves 
rested  on  wooden  pins  driven  into  the  walls,  on  which  were 
placed  the  nicely  scoured  trenchers,  and  a  row  of  shining 
pewter  plates.  Occasionally  the  tinker  came  along  with 
his  molds  and  ladle,  and  gathering  up  the  tarnished  plates 
and  spoons,  melted  and  recast  them ;  and  the  dingy  ware 
shone  in  new  splendor  on  her  shelves.  The  wardrobe  of 
the  family  hung  along  the  walls.  The  precious  looking- 
glass,  the  only  one,  perhaps,  in  all  the  house,  hung  over 
the  rude  stand  on  which  the  Bible  and  the  well-worn  Hymn 
Book  lay.  A  few  spared  forest  trees  stood  before  the  door, 


HIS  MOTHER'S  WIT  AND  HUMOR.  21 

and  in  warm  days  the  busy  mother  sat  there  at  her  task, 
in  the  shade,  while  her  daughters  sang  and  worked  around 
her.  Piles  of  snowy  wool  lay  on  the  grass  beside  them ; 
soonr  came  the  flying  cards,  and  then  the  reel  and  the  rest- 
less broach,  or  the  sounding  wheel;  and  all  were  busy, 
bustling,  and  content. 

Upon  such  scenes  of  frontier  life,  Rebecca  Smith  shed 
the  influence  of  a  strong  but  untutored  mind,  well  stored 
with  useful  facts  and  Irish  legends.  She  was  remarkable 
for  her  retentive  memory — her  wit,  and  sprightly  imagina- 
tion. Her  temper  would  sometimes  burst  forth  in  sudden 
storms,  but  it  was  never  sullen  or  morose.  Humor  soft- 
ened her  reproaches,  and  enlivened  even  her  chastisements. 
She  upbraided  in  homely  satire,  and  turned  the  follies  of 
her  household  into  ridicule.  She  cheered  up  their  flagging 
tasks  with  sprightly  talk,  and  beguiled  the  hours  of  work 
with  pleasantry  and  fun.  She  had  been  brought  up  by  a 
Celtic  grandmother,  and  had  learned  all  the  wild  and  beau- 
tiful legends  of  her  native  land.  The  stories  and  ballads 
that  had  touched  her  own  heart  when  a  child,  became  now, 
in  the  absence  of  books,  the  literature  of  her  cabin — her 
children's  poetry  and  faith. 


22  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    II. 

John  Smith  at  School — His  Early  Education  in  the  Spelling  Book  and  New  Tes- 
tament— Baptist  Church  Formed — Calvinistic  Theology  and  its  Influence  on 
the  Mind  of  Young  Smith. 

WHEN  John  was  about  nine  or  ten  years  of  age,  the 
schoolmaster  came  along,  and,  arguing  wisely  at  each 
fireside,  made  up  a  school  of  such  children  as  could  be 
spared  from  work  and  indulged  in  the  luxury  of  an  edu- 
cation. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  teachers'  wages,  in  those 
days,  were  not  always  paid  in  money.  He  ate  from  house 
to  house;  for  the  burden  of  keeping  him  was  distributed 
among  his  employers.  A  roll  of  linsey,  a  few  yards  of  tow 
linen,  a  woolen  vest,  hanks  of  yarn,  or  of  thread,  or  some 
other  product  of  the  good  wife's  art,  was  often  laid  by  as 
his  stipulated  hire.  In  the  days  of  the  old  Franklin  Com- 
monwealth— the  first  State,  by  the  way,  west  of  the  Alle- 
gheny Mountains  that  encouraged  education  by  legislative 
action — even  the  Governor's  salary  was  paid  by  the  people 
in  such  articles  as  linsey,  raccoon  skins,  beeswax,  and  maple 
sugar ;  and  though  that  Commonwealth  had  passed  away, 
still  in  the  Territory  of  Tennessee,  as  the  country  was  next 
called,  there  was  but  little  use  for  money.  The  school- 
master, too,  was  the  last  person  in  the  country  to  refuse 
the  bulky  currency  of  the  cabin,  and  to  insist  on  gold  and 


JOHN  AT  SCHOOL  23 

silver  in  payment  for  services  that  were  regarded  "by  many 
as  useless  to  backwoodsmen. 

John  was  permitted  to  lay  aside  his  work — except  on 
Saturdays — and  was  urged  by  his  father  to  make  good  use 
of  the  present  opportunity  to  get  his  schooling.  On  the 
appointed  morning,  with  a  spelling  book  in  his  hand,  and 
a  piece  of  Johnny-cake  in  his  pocket,  he  struck  out  a  new 
path  across  the  fields,  and  over  the  hills,  to  the  newly-raised 
hut  of  the  master.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  hovel,  built  near  a 
spring  that  bubbled  up  in  the  wild  woods — a  pen  of  un- 
hewed  logs,  covered  in  with  bark,  or  still  rougher  boards. 
A  door  had  been  made  with  a  saw ;  and  the  crevices  on  all 
sides  let  in  the  light.  The  wind,  too,  and  the  rain,  and  the 
snow,  came  in  as  freely ;  but  a  huge  fire-place  took  up  one 
end  of  the  house,  and  log-heaps,  piled  on  by  the  larger 
boys,  and  set  afire  every  morning,  tempered  the  weather 
within.  When  John  came  in  on  wintry  mornings,  wet  with 
the  chilling  rain,  his  brown  face  all  aglow  with  cold,  he 
would  sit  in  his  reeking  linsey  jacket  before  the  roaring 
fire,  and  hum  his  task  without  complaining.  His  bench 
was  the  half  of  a  riven  sapling,  raised  on  rude  legs,  with 
its  splintered  face  turned  up.  Here  sat  a  row  of  little  boys 
with  curving  backs  and  swinging  feet,  and  with  eyes  that 
beamed  all  day  long  with  fun  or  apprehension.  His  writ- 
ing table  was  a  long,  rough  board,  that  rested,  with  the 
proper  slant,  on  stout  pins  driven  into  the  wall,  where  a 
log  had  been  sawed  out  to  admit  the  light.  Along  this 
window  sat  another  row  of  boys,  and  sometimes  of  girls, 
bending  over  spattered  copy  books,  or  idly  gazing  into  the 
woods  without.  Usually,  the  genius  of  Dilworth,  and  of 
Pike,  and  sometimes  of  John  Bunyan,  supplied  the  frontier 
school  with  its  text ;  and  the  low  hum  of  the  busy  spellers, 
the  clicking  of  the  ciphering  pencils,  and  the  shrill  voice 
of  the  solitary  reader,  as  he  stood  before  the  master,  kept 


24  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

up  the  lively  discord  till  the  sun  went  down.  Sometimes 
the  only  reading  book  was  the  New  Testament.  John 
passed  at  once  from  the  dull  columns  of  the  spelling-book 
to  the  beautiful  pages  of  the  Evangelist.  And  as  he  learned 
to  read  the  words,  doubtless  the  influence  of  many  a  holy 
text  fell  unconsciously  on  his  heart. 

And  the  children  of  that  day  loved  their  humble  school- 
house  by  the  spring.  An  idler,  or  a  truant,  was  seldom 
seen  among  them.  The  first  to  get  to  school  in  the  morn- 
ing was  the  first  to  say  his  lesson.  By  a  dozen  different 
paths,  through  weeds  and  brushy  woods,  the  children  every 
morning  hurried  on,  careless  of  nuts,  or  birds,  or  flowers, 
each  striving  to  be  first  in  the  race  to  school. 

But  the  season  for  going  to  school  was  soon  over;  the 
busy  seed-time  came  on,  and  the  children  were  called  to 
the  fields.  The  scholars  closed  their  books — the  school- 
house  was  deserted — and  the  master  went  on  his  way  and 
was  seen  no  more. 

John  Smith  spent  about  four  months  at  this,  his  first, 
and  for  years  his  only,  school ;  but  in  that  short  period  he 
learned  to  read.  Beginning  with  the  first  letter  of  the 
alphabet,  he  passed  through  the  spelling-book,  and,  at  the 
end  of  the  quarter,  was  a  tolerable  reader  of  the  New 
Testament.  The  Good  Book  was  sealed  to  him  no  longer. 
His  father,  anxious  for  his  improvement,  now  enjoined  it 
upon  him  as  a  task  to  read  the  Scriptures  every  Sunday. 
Nothing  was  further  from  his  father's  mind,  however,  than 
the  thought  that  such  reading  would  have  any  religious 
influence  upon  his  child.  He  had  no  conception  of  any 
agency  whatever,  in  the  work  of  conversion,  save  the 
power  of  that  Spirit  which  breathes  where  it  lists.  He 
would  rather  have  withheld  the  Bible  entirely  from  his 
boy,  that  the  Spirit  might  work  freely  and  sovereignly  on 
his  heart,  than  to  have  grieved  it  away  by  the  presumptuous 


CALVINIST1C  THEOLOGY.  2$ 

attempt  to  give  life  by  means  of  the  Word.  He  was  wholly 
innocent  of  any  religious  aim,  therefore,  when  he  required 
of  John  a  lesson  every  Sunday.  The  Bible,  however,  was 
thus  made  his  earliest  reading-book ;  and  it  may  have  been 
that  some  of  its  life-giving  truth  was  appropriated  by  his 
young  mind  even  before  the  unction  of  the  Spirit  came 
upon  him. 

The  people  of  the  neighborhood  were  pious,  industrious, 
and  rigidly  Calvinistic.  Holston  Association,  the  oldest 
community  of  Baptists  in  the  State,  had  been  recently  or- 
ganized, and  formally  constituted  on  the  Philadelphia  Con- 
fession of  Faith.  One  of  the  churches  of  the  new  con- 
nection had  its  place  of  meeting  not  far  from  the  cabin  of 
George  Smith ;  and  as  he  was  one  of  its  most  devoted 
members,  the  preacher,  who  came  into  the  neighborhood 
every  month,  was  often  a  guest  at  his  house.  John,  it  is 
true,  was  still  too  young  to  hold,  with  distinctness,  any 
article  of  a  speculative  faith;  but  a  young  mind  may  be 
warped  by  doctrines  before  their  formulas  are  compre- 
hended. And  surely,  no  theory  of  religious  conversion 
was  more  likely  to  seize  upon  the  imagination  and  heart 
of  a  child,  than  Calvinism  as  it  was  understood  and  prac- 
tically exhibited  in  our  early  western  churches. 

A  hell  of  the  most  appalling  horrors,  into  which  even 
little  children  might  be  cast — an  unalterable  destiny  for 
every  one,  regardless  of  his  conduct  or  his  creed,  as  God 
might  have  chosen  him  for  heaven  or  doomed  him  to  hell 
before  he  was  born  —  the  dread  uncertainty  that  rested 
on  his  fate — his  utter  inability  to  understand  the  Scrip- 
tures, to  believe  or  to  repent,  to  love  God  or  to  obey  him, 
until  endued  with  power  from  on  high — the  necessity  of 
some  supernatural  sign  or  sensation,  some  miraculous  voice 
or  vision  as  an  evidence  of  pardon  and  acceptance  with 
God ;  the  recital  of  these  strange  experiences,  as  they  were 
3 


26  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

termed,  to  the  breathless  congregation  or  to  the  solemn 
group  around  the  evening  fireside;  the  musical  voice  of 
the  preacher  at  meetings,  beseeching  with  melancholy  cant 
for  sobbing  penitents  kneeling  at  the  altar ;  the  prayer  of 
the  almost  despairing  mourner,  tossing  on  his  bed  at  night, 
or,  with  strong  crying  and  tears,  agonizing  alone  in  the 
depths  of  the  forest ;  and  still  the  exhortation,  often  re- 
peated, to  wrestle  on  till  the  blessing  of  the  Spirit  came, 
if,  peradventure,  it  would  come  at  all :  all  these,  and  many 
other  phases  of  the  early  Calvinism,  would  strike  with 
wonder  and  concern  a  thoughtful  child,  even  before  he 
could  read  the  Philadelphia  symbol.  And  should  his  own 
reason,  or  some  text  of  Scripture,  learned  as  a  Sunday 
reading  lesson,  suggest  some  other  view  of  God  or  man, 
the  anointed  preacher  was  at  hand  to  rebuke  the  pre- 
sumptuous thought,  and  thus  save  his  young  mind  from 
every  error. 

John  imbibed  the  temper  of  his  father's  creed,  as  freely 
and  unconsciously  as  he  breathed  the  air  upon  his  native 
hills.  He  soon  began  to  wonder  whether  the  voice  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  would  ever  call  to  him ;  and  he  listened  in 
the  forest,  when  strange  sounds  were  passing  by,  to  hear 
his  own  name  called  by  unseen  lips.  He  wondered 
whether  some  glorious  vision  would  ever  bless  his  eyes ; 
and  he  peered  into  the  evening  shades  for  spectral  forms 
and  beckoning  lights.  Woods  and  streams  and  all  soli- 
tary places,  were,  in  the  dawn  of  his  religious  faith,  the 
haunts  of  that  mysterious  Spirit  that  quickened  the  elect. 
He  was  not  of  course,  in  the  language  of  the  times,  a 
seeker  of  religion — anxious  and  alarmed,  and  waiting  for 
the  gift  of  pardon.  His  conceit  was  not  the  offspring  of 
a  guilty  conscience.  It  was  the  poetry  of  a  dawning 
faith — a  superstition,  rather — devoid  of  either  penitence 
or  prayer. 


STORIES  OF  CONVERSIONS.  2? 

The  stories  of  conversions  that  went  round  the  neigh- 
borhood, were  always  full  of  marvelous  incident  and 
spiritual  adventure;  and  he  listened  to  these  narrations 
as  he  listened  to  his  mother's  legends  of  the  weird  Ban- 
shee— with  simple  wonder  and  a  childish  faith. 


28  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    III. 

Prosperity  in  Holston  Valley — Determination  to  Remove  to  Kentucky — Location 
in  Stockton's  Valley — Clearing  up  a  New  Farm — Anecdote  of  Pack-saddles— 
John's  Trip  of  a  Hundred  Miles  for  Seed  Corn — A  Dance — Jeremiah  Varde- 
man  first  appears  in  the  character  of  a  Fiddler — Gathering  of  the  Family  in 
Stockton's  Valley — Young  Smith's  Employments — Making  Meal — Digging 
for  Ginseng  —  Isaac  Denton  organizes  a  Church  —  Smith's  anxiety  to  learn 
Arithmetic  —  A  Drunken  Ignoramus  for  Teacher — Tricks  played  by  the 
Scholars — Settlement  of  the  Older  Children  in  New  Homes — John  tempted 
into  Card  Playing— Discovered  by  his  Father,  whose  mild  rebuke  effectually 
reclaimed  him. 

THE  time  soon  came  when  the  farmers  on  the  Holston 
began  to  raise  a  surplus,  and  to  supply  wants  which,  unfelt 
at  first,  became  more  pressing  as  the  country  grew  more 
populous.  Grain,  and  other  produce,  was  now  stored  away 
for  the  purchaser,  and  every  yard  of  cloth  not  needed  by 
the  family  was  bartered  for  finer  fabrics,  or  for  useful  warea 
Traffic  stimulated  industry  and  encouraged  economy.  Com- 
forts multiplied ;  and  a  sort  of  wealth  flowed  in,  but  with- 
out its  luxury  or  pride.  The  country  was  alive  with  enter- 
prise, and  the  wilderness  began  to  blossom  like  the  rose. 
Holston  Valley,  at  last  a  part  of  the  State  of  Tennessee, 
smiled  every-where  with  pleasant  homes  and  cultivated 
farms. 

But  George  Smith  could  not,  in  the  midst  of  his  present 
prosperity,  lose  sight  of  the  future  welfare  of  his  children. 
He  had  a  natural  wish  to  see  them  all  comfortably  settled 
around  him,  tilling  their  own  land  and  living  in  their  own 


REMOVAL   TO   KENTUCKY.  29 

houses.  To  enlarge  his  farm  was  impracticable ;  the  price 
of  land  where  he  lived  was  too  great,  and  the  soil  was  not 
such  as  he  wanted.  He  resolved,  therefore,  to  give  up  his 
home  on  the  Holston,  and,  trusting  in  the  Providence  that 
had  hitherto  helped  him,  plunge  into  the  wilderness  once 
more. 

In  the  autumn  of  1795,  he  sold  his  farm  in  Tennessee, 
and  took  his  family  into  Powell's  Valley.  It  was  his  pur- 
pose to  leave  them  there,  while  he  and  John  and  Joseph, 
an  older  son,  should  cross  the  mountains  into  Kentucky, 
and  go  in  search  of  a  goodly  spot,  where  he  might  build  a 
cabin,  plant  a  patch  of  corn,  and  prepare,  as  well  as  he 
could,  for  the  family  that  would  join  him  in  the  summer. 
As  soon,  then,  as  he  saw  them  snugly  sheltered  in  the 
Valley,  he  started  with  his  two  boys  to  Kentucky.  Their 
scanty  stores,  their  plows  and  other  implements  of  labor, 
were  packed  on  horses.  Two  or  three  cows,  which  were  to 
be  their  main  dependence  through  the  winter,  were  driven 
along  before  them.  Following  the  trace  which  led  to  Crab 
Orchard,  and  thence  descending  into  the  valley  of  the 
Cumberland  River,  they  crossed  that  stream,  and  stopped 
at  the  foot  of  Poplar  Mountain,  in  a  delightful  valley,  now 
a  part  of  Clinton  County.  This  mountain  is  a  winding 
spur  of  the  Cumberland  Chain,  with  an  elevation  of  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  hundred  feet.  It  extends  as  far  as  the 
central  portion  of  Clinton.  Within  one  of  its  singular  and 
beautiful  curves,  it  incloses  the  region  known  as  Stock- 
ton's Valley — a  fertile,  densely  wooded,  lime-stone  country, 
and,  at  the  time  of  which  we  speak,  an  almost  unbroken 
solitude. 

Here,  on  two  hundred  acres  of  forest  land,  they  began 
their  labors.  Two  other  settlers  had  already  moved  into 
the  valley,  from  one  of  whom — Thomas  Stockton — it  took 
its  name.  Their  farms  were  three  and  four  miles  distant. 


3O  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOIIN  SMITH. 

Besides  these  settlers,  there  was  not  a  civilized  man  nearer 
than  Burksville,  twenty  miles  further  west.  With  the  help 
of  these  two  neighbors,  a  cabin  was  soon  raised.  Space 
for  a  garden  and  corn-patch  was  marked  off,  and  their  busy 
axes  were  soon  ringing  in  the  smoky  clearing.  For  a  while 
they  had  no  other  food  than  milk ;  they  had  not  for  weeks 
a  single  ear  of  corn,  and  though  game  abounded,  they  had 
not  the  time  to  hunt  it.  At  last  it  became  necessary  to 
procure,  from  some  quarter,  corn  enough  for  seed.  The 
nearest  mill  was  on  Dix  River,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Danville,  more  than  one  hundred  miles  distant.  In  that 
remote  region  corn  was  plentiful;  but  it  could  be  carried 
through  the  wilderness  only  on  pack  horses. 

The  pack-saddle  was  an  invaluable  contrivance  in  the 
back-woods,  where  vehicles  were  unknown,  and  roads  were 
but  narrow  traces  winding  through  tangled  forests.  It  was 
merely  the  limb  of  a  tree,  which  forked  with  the  proper 
angles.  This  was  cut  the  right  length,  and  the  prongs 
were  chipped  out  so  as  to  fit  the  animal's  back.  To  this 
rude  frame,  short  boards  were  fastened  with  wooden  pins, 
and  the  thing  was  complete.  A  good  fork  was  not  to  be 
found  every  day,  and  the  settler  was  sure  to  note  any  tree 
that  bore  so  rare  a  product.  It  was  with  a  full  apprecia- 
tion of  its  value  that  Joseph  Craig,  an  old  pioneer  preacher, 
once  stopped  short  in  his  exhortation  to  a  large  congrega- 
tion in  the  woods,  and  while  his  eyes  were  still  turned 
devoutly  to  heaven,  suddenly  pointed  his  finger  to  a  branch 
of  the  tree  that  shaded  him,  and  exclaimed:  "Brethren, 
behold  up  yonder  a  first-rate  crotch  for  a  pack-saddle." 

George  Smith  had  brought  with  him  to  Stockton's  Val- 
ley two  or  three  horses,  and  they  were  already  furnished 
with  good  pack-saddles.  One  evening  as  he  sat  with  his 
boys  he  said,  "  John,  we  must  have  some  bread,  and  soon 
we  will  need  some  corn  to  plant.  It  is  more  than  a  hundred 


JEREMIAH   VARDEMAN  AS  A  FIDDLER.  3! 

miles  to  Horine's  mill,  'tis  true.  But  you  are  now  twelve 
years  old,  and  I  know  you  are  smart  enough  to  make  the 
trip.  It  will  keep  back  the  work  too  much  for  me  or  Jo  to 
go.  Suppose,  then,  that  to-morrow  you  get  ready  the  pack 
horses,  and  start?  Follow  the  trace  that  leads  north  to 
Crab  Orchard — people  there  will  tell  you  where  to  find  the 
mill."  John  was  ready  at  sunrise  next  morning  to  start 
on  his  journey.  It  was  wintry  weather,  and  he  was  poorly 
clad.  His  only  suit,  which  he  had  brought  with  him  from 
Powell's  Valley,  was  torn  almost  to  tatters  by  the  green 
briars  and  thorns  of  the  wilderness.  His  father  had,  it  is 
true,  a  pair  of  deer-skin  trowsers  nearly  ready  for  him  ;  but 
hunger  and  seed-time  could  not  wait.  Mounting  one  of 
the  two  horses,  and  leading  the  other  for  the  pack,  he  started 
for  the  northern  settlement.  His  wallet  was  well  stuffed 
with  bear's  meat  and  wild  turkey's  breast,  and  a  small  buck- 
skin purse  held  his  money.  Aided  by  a  stranger,  he  crossed 
the  swollen  Cumberland,  his  horses  swimming  the  river  at 
the  side  of  the  canoe.  For  three  or  four  days  he  threaded 
the  wilderness  alone,  haply  finding  each  night  a  hospitable 
cabin  in  which  to  sleep.  It  was  nightfall  when  he  reached 
the  mill,  cold  and  hungry  and  tired.  He  would  have  gone 
in  at  once  to  the  miller's  house,  but  a  merry  crowd  had 
already  gathered  there  for  a  dance,  and  there  was  no  one 
•  for  a  while  to  notice  him.  Tying  up  his  horses,  however, 
he  stepped  to  the  door  of  the  cabin  and  looked  in.  The 
scene  made  him  forget  for  a  time  his  hunger  and  rags.  A 
rustic  reel  was  beating  the  puncheon  floor  to  as  merry  a 
fiddle  as  ever  was  played.  The  fiddler  himself  was  the 
most  conspicuous  figure  in  the  group.  He  was  a  young 
man  of  fine  face  and  form,  and  was  dressed  in  a  gay  coat 
and  yellow  velvet  breeches.  Drawn  by  the  strains  of  the 
violin,  our  ragged  mill-boy  crept  as  close  as  he  could  to  the 
genius  that  inspired  all  this  mirth — and  for  the  first  time 


32  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

in  his  life,  JOHN  SMITH  looked  upon  the  face  of  JEREMIAH 
VARDEMAN.  Next  morning  he  retraced  his  toilsome  way 
back  to  Stockton's  Valley,  having  accomplished  his  mis- 
sion to  the  satisfaction  of  his  father. 

Occasionally  during  the  winter,  he  found  time  to  indulge 
a  boyish  love  of  adventure.  He  explored  the  streams  and 
the  thickets;  he  climbed  the  mountains  that  lay  around 
him,  and  traced  the  river  winding  through  the  mazes  of  a 
boundless  forest.  A  band  of  Indian  hunters  strolled  into 
the  valley,  and  built  their  camp-fires  near  the  cabin ;  a 
world  of  wonder  and  amusement  was  in  store  for  him. 
They  were  Cherokees,  on  the  hunt  for  the  deer  and  the 
mountain  bear — wild  and  cunning  Nimrods,  but  at  that 
time  peaceful  and  inoffensive  neighbors.  He  grew  familiar 
with  these  fierce  sportsmen,  and  they  were  pleased  with 
him.  He  sat  with  them  at  their  evening  fires,  and  joined 
in  their  shorter  excursions  to  the  mountains.  Having  a 
good  memory,  and  a  thirst  for  every  kind  of  knowledge, 
he  learned  their  uncouth  tongue,  and  picked  up  many  of 
their  traditions.  Theirs  was  in  fact  the  only  modern 
language  that  he  ever  acquired,  and  he  never  afterward 
forgot  it. 

The  winter  at  last  wore  away.  As  soon  as  the  corn  was 
in,  and  a  few  garden  seeds  were  planted,  they  made  the 
cabin  and  the  dreary  spot  around  it  as  pleasant  as  they 
could  for  the  mother  who  was  waiting  with  her  children 
for  a  home.  When  all  was  done  that  their  resources  en- 
abled them  to  do,  the  father  set  out  for  Powell's  Valley,  to 
bring  his  wife  and  children  to  Kentucky,  while  the  two 
boys  were  left  alone  in  the  wilderness,  to  take  care  of  their 
little  crop. 

It  was  midsummer  when  John's  ringing  shout  greeted 
his  father's  little  caravan,  as  it  moved  into  the  valley.  The 
journey  over  the  mountains  had  been  a  safe  but  toilsome 


JOHN'S  EARLY  EMPLOYMENT.  33 

one.  The  weary  pack  horses — the  motley  herd — the  guard 
of  stalwart  sons,  each  carrying  a  trusty  weapon,  or  some 
implement  of  toil,  upon  his  shoulder — all  gathered  way- 
worn to  the  cabin  yard,  and  the  trials  of  a  frontier  life 
began  once  more. 

The  family  consisted,  at  this  time,  of  thirteen  children — 
eight  sons  and  five  daughters — several  of  whom  were  grown. 
Five  sons  and  three  daughters  were  older  than  John,  who 
was  now  in  his  thirteenth  year.  Such  a  family,  every 
member  of  which  had  been  trained  to  labor  without  the 
help  of  a  single  slave,  were  well  prepared  to  encounter  the 
difficulties  of  living  in  the  wilderness.  It  was  not  long 
till  their  united  efforts,  favored  by  a  rich  and  easy  soil,  and 
encouraged  by  the  rapid  immigration  of  good  citizens  to 
the  valley,  placed  them  once  more  in  comfortable  circum- 
stances. 

John  had  early  laid  aside  his  childish  tasks,  and  he  now 
began  to  wield  the  ax,  and  to  guide  the  plow.  Expert 
enough  with  the  rifle  to  bring  down  a  buck  or  a  bear  at 
long  shot,  he  nevertheless  had  but  little  fondness  for  a  gun. 
More  like  Jacob  than  Esau  in  his  taste,  he  left  it  to  his 
brothers  to  procure  the  savory  venison  for  the  family,  while 
he  supplied  the  kitchen  with  the  daily  allowance  of  hominy 
and  meal.  In  those  times  meal  was  made  by  beating  grain 
with  a  pestle  in  a  block  of  wood  hollowed  out  like  a  mortar. 
To  this  contrivance  a  sweep  was  sometimes  attached,  when 
the  quantity  of  bread  required  was  very  great.  The  pounded 
grist  was  sifted  ;  the  coarser  part  was  boiled  for  hominy, 
while  the  finer  was  made  into  hoe-cake,  or  served  with 
milk  or  butter  in  the  form  of  mush.  To  beat  corn  at  the 
sweep  for  a  large  family  was  no  easy  task ;  and  among  the 
early  sounds  that  were  heard  at  the  cabin  every  morning, 
was  the  fall  of  John's  heavy  pestle  pounding  corn  for  the 
daily  bread. 


34  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

When  he  could  be  spared  from  labor  at  the  cabin,  or  on 
the  farm,  he  was  sent  into  the  mountains  to  dig  for  ginseng, 
for  which  there  was,  at  that  time,  a  great  demand.  This 
plant — the  Panax  quinquefolium  of  the  botanist — was  held 
in  such  estimation  among  the  Chinese,  on  account  of  its 
supposed  virtues  as  a  medicine,  that  it  was  sometimes  sold 
in  their  country  for  its  weight  in  gold.  It  was  about  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  attention  was  first 
called  to  its  use  as  a  panacea  in  the  East.  It  was  ascer- 
tained that  the  emperor  guarded  the  districts  where  it  grew, 
and  kept  several  thousand  natives  collecting  it,  paying  them 
for  it  an  equal  weight  of  silver,  which  was  much  less  than 
its  actual  value.  A  decoction  made  from  the  root,  or  a  tea 
distilled  from  the  leaves,  was  prescribed  by  the  Chinese 
physicians  in  nearly  every  case  of  disease.  It  was  soon 
afterward  discovered  by  the  missionaries  in  the  wooded 
mountains  of  America;  and  at  once  it  became  an  impor- 
tant article  of  commerce.  Wherever  our  Western  settlers 
raised  their  cabins,  they  hunted  in  the  neighboring  hills  for 
the  ginseng;  traffic  was  opened  with  the  nearest  villages, 
whose  tradesmen  bought  it  and  sent  it  forward  for  ship- 
ment to  the  old  world.  As  no  attempt  to  cultivate  it  ever 
proved  successful,  the  supply  came  only  from  the  forests. 
It  was  gathered  by  hardy  backwoodsmen  alone,  who,  it 
seems,  were  never  able  to  discover  its  virtues.  A  Chinese 
conceit  alone  seems  to  have  created  the  demand  for  this 
plant,  and  a  like  conceit  at  last  depreciated  the  American 
species,  and  lessened  its  importance  as  an  article  of  com- 
merce.* 

With  a  coarse  bag  on  his  arm,  and  a  sang  hoe  on  his 
shoulder,  John  went,  at  the  proper  season,  to  dig  for  this 
root  on  the  mountain  slopes  and  in  the  rich,  light  mould 


*New  American  Encyclopedia. 


ISAAC  DENT  ON.  35 

of  the  forest.  The  quantity  gathered  during  the  season 
was  sometimes  very  great.  It  was  cleaned  and  dried,  and 
carried  to  Burksville  or  to  Monticello,  where  it  was  ex- 
changed for  such  articles  as  the  family  needed,  but  could 
not  produce  at  home. 

Stockton's  Valley  was  soon  settled  up  by  a  plain  and 
honest  people  from  Virginia  and  East  Tennessee.  They 
were  mostly  Baptists,  severe  in  doctrine  and  ardent  in 
piety.  In  1799,  Isaac  Denton,  an  humble  and  godly  man, 
came  out  to  live  among  them  as  a  minister.  Settling  on  a 
small  farm  in  the  neighborhood  of  Smith,  he  organized  a 
church,  of  which  he  took  the  charge.  His  brethren  soon 
built  a  meeting-house  near  where  he  lived,  on  the  banks  of 
Clear  Fork,  a  small  tributary  of  Wolf  River.  The  spiritual 
interests  of  the  Clear  Fork  Baptists  could  not  have  been 
intrusted  to  more  faithful  hands.  He  was  kind  in  dispo- 
sition, sound  in  the  faith,  and  zealous  in  the  work  of  his 
office.  Under  his  ministrations  the  church  prospered ;  it 
grew  in  piety  and  in  numbers ;  the  elect  were  industriously 
gathered  in,  and  faithfully  instructed  in  the  nature  of  their 
high  vocation. 

The  schoolmaster  soon  followed  in  his  wake ;  and  John 
was  again  signed  as  a  scholar.  He  had  made  some  progress 
in  reading  since  the  close  of  his  former  school,  though  he 
had  found  but  little  time  for  study.  He  had  read  and  learned 
by  heart  all  the  favorite  hymns  of  the  family ;  for  he  now 
began  to  love  the  poetry  of  religion  as  it  breathed  in  the 
simple  psalmody  of  the  Church.  So  great,  too,  was  the 
natural  strength  of  his  memory,  that  he  was  ever  able  to 
repeat  any  stanza  that  he  had  once  read  with  attention. 

The  influence  of  a  simple,  well- written  hymn  on  the  heart 
of  a  thoughtful  boy  is  often  very  powerful.  He  will  speak 
to  himself  in  some  song  that  he  has  learned,  till  it  becomes 
within  him  an  ever-welling  fountain  of  melody  and  truth, 


36  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

But  John's  greatest  ambition,  at  this  time,  was  to  becoi./e 
an  arithmetician.  He  was  ignorant  of  figures ;  and  he  had 
already  felt  the  need  of  that  sort  of  knowledge.  He  was 
pleased,  therefore,  when  he  heard  that  a  teacher  was  about 
to  open  a  school  in  the  neighborhood,  but  delighted  when 
fame  reported  that  the  coming  master  was  well  versed  in 
numbers — that  he  even  proposed  to  answer  any  question 
that  the  best  scholar  of  the  school  might  ask  him.  His 
thirst  for  all  this  learning  became  intense,  and  he  longed 
for  the  day  to  come  when  he  would  begin  his  studies  once 
more. 

A  school-house  of  round,  green  logs  was  thrown  up  by 
the  neighbors  in  a  day ;  and  on  the  next  he  stood,  eager  for 
knowledge,  in  the  presence  of  the  new  master.  He  was  an 
uncouth  Irishman,  who  had  drifted  on  some  chance  tide  to 
the  shores  of  the  new  world,  and  had  been  thrown  at  last, 
homeless  and  aimless,  on  the  frontier.  His  unfitness  for 
business,  and  his  aversion  to  every  kind  of  labor,  forced 
him,  by  a  kind  of  necessity,  to  keep  school ;  for  beggary 
among  honest  frontiermen  was  too  precarious  a  means  of 
living. 

A  school  in  which  indolence  may  sit  unobserved,  and 
ignorance  blunder  on  without  exposure,  is,  even  in  our  own 
times,  too  often  but  a  reputable  way  of  escape  from  hard 
work — a  mere  refuge  from  starvation  or  disgrace. 

This  master  was  lazy  and  illiterate  ;  too  ignorant,  in  fact, 
even  for  the  unlettered  people  around  him.  He  was  simply 
a  vagabond,  without  the  skill  or  the  industry  to  teach  what 
little  he  knew.  He  was,  besides,  a  slave  to  his  flagon ;  and 
he  would  frequently  sit  in  his  school  reeking  with  the  fumes 
of  his  usquebaugh,  and  sleep  off  his  stupor,  while  a  bois- 
terous holiday  frolicked  around  him.  John's  ambition  to 
learn  died  away  in  disgust.  He  was  much  prone  to  indulge 
a  propensity  for  fun,  which  some  mistook  for  wickedness. 


THE  SCHOOLMASTER  IN  TROUBLE.  37 

Even  his  father  had  watched  this  propensity  with  solicitude, 
and  had  kept  him,  as  much  as  he  could,  in  his  own  serious 
presence.  But  John's  mirthfulness  was  neither  wanton  nor 
wicked ;  his  jests  were  never  stained  with  injustice  or  false- 
hood. His  witticisms  were  harmless,  and  his  levity  was  but 
the  unconscious  play  of  a  natural  humor.  He  saw  that  the 
neighbors  had  been  duped  by  the  schoolmaster;  and  yet 
they  were  bound  to  him  in  a  written  agreement.  But  m 
law,  he  thought,  shielded  the  impostor  from  his  raillery ;  so 
he  determined  to  make  him  the  victim  of  his  jokes,  in  the 
hope  that,  without  hurting  a  hair  of  his  head,  he  might 
force  him  to  quit  a  vocation  that  he  only  disgraced. 

One  day  this  pretender  stood  up  before  his  school  and 
bantered  them  to  puzzle  him  with  some  question  in  arith- 
metic. John,  watchful  of  every  opportunity  to  annoy  him, 
and  to  bring  his  pretensions  into  contempt,  arose,  and  pru- 
dently taking  his  stand  by  the  door,  asked  him :  "  Master, 
how  many  grains  of  corn  will  it  take  to  make  a  square  foot 
of  mush?"  The  pedagogue  for  a  moment  winced  at  the 
question ;  but  when  he  saw  that  he  was  only  mocked  by 
his  tormentor,  he  flew  into  a  rage,  and  hastened  to  report 
him  as  an  incorrigible  offender.  But  father's  censure  was 
so  mild,  that  it  was  construed  as  a  license  to  continue  the 
war. 

A  few  days  after  this  the  master,  again  grown  stupid 
from  his  cups,  fell  fast  asleep  in  his  chair.  His  persecutor, 
wishing  to  bring  on  the  crisis,  seized  the  wooden  shovel, 
and  lifting  it  full  of  hot  embers  from  the  hearth,  poured 
them  into  the  huge  pocket  of  his  linsey  coat.  The  chil- 
dren trembled  and  stood  aghast  at  the  prank ;  then,  seizing 
their  books,  they  rushed  out  into  the  woods.  The  toper 
slept  on,  till  the  smoke  of  his  homespun  awoke  him.  His 
pocket  was  consumed ;  like  Saul  of  old,  the  skirt  of  his 
mantle  was  gone — his  enemy  had  triumphed  while  he  slept, 


38  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

and  his  scepter  had  departed.  The  school,  which  had 
lasted  three  weeks,  was  now  at  an  end.  One  of  the  em- 
ployers, getting  the  article  of  agreement  into  his  hands  the 
next  day,  threw  it  into  the  fire ;  the  poor  pedagogue  bowed 
to  his  fate,  and  was  seen  in  the  valley  no  more. 

The  time  at  length  came  when  the  older  sons  began  to 
look  around  in  order  to  find  homes  for  themselves.  William 
moved  into  the  adjoining  county  of  Wayne,  and  bought 
land  on  the  Little  South  Fork  of  the  Cumberland ;  George 
wandered  off  into  the  country  of  the  Green  River;  other 
sons  acquired  land  in  the  valley,  and  lived  near  their  father, 
while  three  of  the  daughters  were  married  to  respectable 
and  industrious  young  farmers  of  the  neighborhood. 

John  felt  the  weight  of  the  responsibility  that  now  came 
upon  him,  when  he  saw  that  he  was  left  to  be  the  main 
dependence  of  parents  that  were  fast  growing  old.  Fortu- 
nately, his  moral  sense  was  tender  and  discriminating.  Few 
boys  ever  felt  greater  anguish  for  sin,  or  wept  more  bitterly 
for  offenses  against  those  whom  they  loved.  Such  vices  as 
drunkenness,  profanity,  and  gambling,  he  had  been  taught 
from  his  infancy  to  hate ;  and  though  his  mirthful  disposi- 
tion had  sometimes  led  him  astray,  he  had  never  been  guilty 
of  any  of  those  grosser  offenses ;  'and  he  was  now  in  the 
eighteenth  year  of  his  age. 

Some  of  his  brothers  were  exemplary  members  of  the 
Church ;  but  others  were  worldly,  if  not  wicked,  in  their 
disposition.  He  was,  of  course,  exposed  at  times  to  the 
influence  of  their  evil  example. 

One  of  his  married  brothers,  who  lived  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, once  brought  home  a  pack  of  cards,  and  began  to 
play  in  his  own  house  secretly.  It  was  not  long  before 
John  was  persuaded  to  come  and  join  in  the  game.  Night 
after  night  he  would  leave  home,  and  steal  through  the 
dark  woods  to  the  house  of  his  thoughtless  brother  to 


A   FATHER'S  INFLUENCE.  39 

play.  Finally,  he  would  go  off  to  the  thickets  on  Sunday, 
and  there  play  with  idle  companions.  His  father,  in  the 
meantime,  suspected  them;  and  he  was  distressed  with 
that  anxiety  which  none  but  a  father  can  feel,  when  he 
fears  that  all  is  not  right  with  his  boys.  But  he  said 
nothing  to  them ;  for  he  never  provoked  his  children  by 
hasty  or  premature  censure. 

One  Sunday  morning  the  good  man  left  his  house,  and 
went  out  alone  to  pray,  with  the  burden  of  his  children's 
sins  upon  his  heart.  There  was,  not  far  off,  a  dense  thicket 
overrun  with  wild  vines,  where  he  had  often  knelt  in  prayer, 
unseen  by  any  but  the  All-seeing  Eye.  Thoughtful  and 
humble,  he  now  entered  that  leafy  closet,  to  pour  out  his 
full  heart  to  God.  But  there,  on  the  trunk  of  a  fallen  tree, 
in  the  very  midst  of  their  father's  sanctuary,  sat  John  and 
his  brothers  wickedly  playing  at  cards. 

He  stood  for  awhile  unobserved,  and  looked  on  his 
boys  in  silence  and  sorrow.  At  last  one  of  them  saw  him, 
and  whispered, "  Father ! "  The  game  ceased,  and  the  cards 
dropped  from  their  hands.  The  eyes  of  the  boys  glanced 
upward,  but  instantly  fell  to  the  earth  again ;  for  the  gaze 
of  the  good  old  man  was  on  them,  his  face  spoke  a  heart 
full  of  pain,  and  great  tears  dropped  from  his  furrowed 
cheeks  to  the  ground.  He  turned  away  from  a  scene  that 
so  much  distressed  him;  and,  without  speaking  a  word, 
walked  back  through  the  forest. 

The  boys  sat  there  for  awhile  in  silence.  At  last  John, 
whose  heart  was  almost  bursting,  said : 

"  It  is  wrong  to  distress  so  good  a  father  as  ours ;  it  is  a 
sin  and  a  shame ! " 

And  they  all  felt  it ;  for  they  silently  threw  away  their 
cards,  and  went  home,  resolved  never  to  play  again  while 
they  lived. 

John  expected  a  talk  from  his  father  that  evening ;  but 


4O          LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

he  was  left  all  night  long  to  his  own  bitter  reflections. 
On  the  morrow,  while  they  were  together  in  the  field,  he 
brought  up  the  matter  himself.  He  owned  his  faults,  and 
promised  never  to  indulge  in  that  pastime  again.  And 
he  sacredly  kept  that  pledge  all  the  days  of  his  life. 


THE  HARPES.  41 


CHAPTER    IV. 

John's  visit  to  his  brother  George — Depredations  of  the  Harpes,  a  band  of  out- 
laws— Murder  of  Stagall's  Family — Providential  escape  of  George  Smith — 
Capture  and  execution  of  Harpe — James  McGready — The  Great  Revival — 
Strange  Phenomena — John  Smith's  observation  of  them,  and  his  impressions 
concerning  them — Isaac  Denton — Predestination — Singular  Manifestations — 
Preacher  dancing  in  the  Pulpit — John  Smith's  examination  of  the  Subject — 
Power  as  a  Debater — Apparently  skeptical — Reads  the  Bible  for  light — Con- 
vinced that  he  should  become  a  Christian — His  father  dies — Left  head  of  the 
Household. 

IN  the  following  winter,  a  rumor  reached  the  family  that 
George,  the  brother  who  had  settled  on  Green  River,  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Harpes — a  notorious  band  of 
outlaws  from  North  Carolina,  that  had  made  their  appear- 
ance the  year  before  in  the  neighborhood  of  Stanford,  and 
had  marked  their  path  through  the  valleys  of  the  Cumber- 
land and  the  Green  River  with  pillage  and  murder.  The 
party  consisted  of  two  men  and  two  or  three  women.  In 
their  progress  through  the  country,  they  had  entered  Stock- 
ton's Valley  also,  and  had  murdered  two  inoffensive  citizens, 
neighbors  of  Smith.  Elsewhere  they  had  spared  neither 
sex  nor  age ;  they  seemed  to  be  mad  with  a  thirst  for  hu- 
man blood,  and  fiendish  in  their  hate  of  their  fellow-men. 

What  the  fate  of  George  was,  the  family  could  not  defi- 
nitely learn ;  but  it  was  judged  proper  that  John  and  an 
older  brother  should  set  out  immediately  for  Christian 
County,  and  if  he  should  be  alive,  to  give  him  any  assistance 
that  he  might  need.  They  started  in  the  dead  of  winter, 
4 


42  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

in  intensely  cold  weather,  and  traversed  a  snowy  wilder- 
ness, till  they  reached  their  brother's  cabin.  They  found 
him  alive  and  well ;  but  he  gave  them  a  fearful  account  of 
the  attempt  of  the  outlaws  to  murder  him,  and  of  his  prov- 
idential escape  from  their  hands. 

It  seems*  that  these  strange  beings,  while  prowling  along 
the  highway  that  led  toward  the  mouth  of  Green  River, 
stopped  one  night  on  the  roadside  near  the  house  of  a  Mr. 
Stagall,  who  happened  to  be  from  home  at  the  time.  The 
family,  duped  by  an  artifice  of  the  robbers,  kindly  received 
them  into  the  house,  in  the  belief  that  they  were  Method- 
ist preachers.  After  they  had  retired  to  rest,  the  Harpes, 
who  had  got  hold  of  an  ax  during  the  evening,  murdered 
them  all  in  their  sleep,  and  then,  setting  fire  to  the  house, 
made  their  escape.  The  next  day  Stagall  returned.  Mad 
with  grief  and  revenge,  he  started  at  once  in  pursuit  of  the 
murderers,  with  Captain  John  Leeper,  and  a  few  other  res- 
olute men,  who  readily  joined  the  avenger.  The  Harpes 
moved  rapidly  on  in  their  flight,  till  they  reached  the  neigh- 
borhood of  George  Smith,  where  they  halted  for  a  while  to 
rest.  Smith  had  taken  his  rifle  and  gone  out  to  the  wilds 
in  search  of  some  stock  that  had  wandered.  Coming 
suddenly  upon  their  camp  on  the  roadside,  and  seeing  the 
women  engaged  in  cooking,  he  went  in  carelessly  among 
them,  supposing  that  they  were  immigrants.  The  men 
suddenly  seized  him,  and,  wresting  the  gun  from  his  hands, 
were  about  to  murder  him  on  the  spot ;  but  the  women 
begged  them  to  do  the  foul  deed  out  of  their  sight.  They 
dragged  him  into  the  woods,  when  the  Big  Harpe,  as  the 
larger  one  was  called,  clutched  him  with  a  tiger-like  grasp, 
while  the  other  got  ready  his  rifle  to*  shoot  him.  Smith, 
though  an  active  and  powerful  young  man,  struggled  in. 

*  Davidson. 


DEATH  OF  BIO  HARPE.  43 

irain  to  get  loose  from  the  arms  of  the  giant.  Finding  that 
escape  was  imppssible,  he  turned  to  watch  the  movements 
of  Little  Harpe,  who  was  ready  to  shoot,  and  waited  only 
to  get  a  good  aim  at  his  victim. 

Almost  exhausted  by  his  efforts,  George  struggled  in  the 
arms  of  his  foe  now  only  to  keep  himself  screened  from  the 
rifle.  Again  and  again  he  saw  the  deadly  weapon  pointed, 
but  grasping  his  foe  closely,  and  dodging  behind  him,  he 
managed  to  keep  him  in  range  of  the  gun.  Suddenly,  the 
women  at  the  camp  shrieked  out  an  alarm  ;  and,  at  the 
same  moment,  a  band  of  armed  horsemen  dashed  into  view. 
The  outlaws  instantly  abandoned  their  prisoner,  and  the 
Big  Harpe,  leaping  on  a  fleet  horse  which  he  had  stolen, 
fled  with  desperate  speed  into  the  wilderness,  while  the 
other  escaped  on  foot.  On  came  the  avengers  of  blood. 
They  stopped  but  a  moment  at  the  spot  where  George  was 
sitting,  panting  and  bewildered,  on  the  ground.  One  of 
them,  supposing  him,  too,  to  be  a  marauder,  recklessly 
raised  his  rifle  and  shot  him  ;  the  ball  passed  through  his 
arm  and  leg,  inflicting  serious  and  painful  wounds. 

But  the  pursuers  had  not  a  moment  to  lose.  One  party, 
under  Stagall,  sped  on  after  the  Little  Harpe,  while  another, 
headed  by  Leeper,  followed  the  trail  of  his  accomplice.  In 
their  fierce  chase,  they  rushed  through  the  vines  and  weeds 
of  the  wild-wood  like  a  tornado.  After  a  fearful  ride  of  nine 
or  ten  miles,  Leeper  found  himself  in  advance  of  his  party, 
and  near  enough  to  his  victim  to  venture  a  shot.  He  fired, 
and  brought  down  both  rider  and  horse.  The  wounded 
miscreant  now  begged  for  his  life,  which  was  spared  only 
till  Stagall  came  up,  who  had  abandoned  as  fruitless  the 
pursuit  of  the  other.**  When  he  reached  the  spot,  he  looked 
for  a  moment  on  the  face  of  the  wretch  that  had  murdered 
his  wife  and  children,  and  then,  raising  his  gun,  deliberately 
put  an  end  to  his  life  and  his  crimes. 


44  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

They  afterward  severed  his  head  from  his  body,  and 
bending  down  a  tall  hickory  sapling,  they  trimmed  off  its 
branches,  and  sharpening  its  extremity,  stuck  the  ghastly 
thing  on  the  point,  and  the  tree  sprung  back  to  its  place. 
There  the  revolting  trophy  long  hung  over  the  gloomy  and 
desolate  region  known  afterward  in  Kentucky  as  Harpe's 
Head. 

When  they  returned  to  the  spot  where  Smith  had  been 
shot,  to  look  after  that  unfortunate  man,  they  found  that  he 
had,  in  the  mean  time,  crawled  from  the  place,  and,  calling 
aloud  for  help,  had  been  heard  by  some  passer-by,  and 
taken  to  his  home. 

When  his  brothers  arrived,  his  wounds  were  all  healed  > 
but  his  thirst  for  adventure  was  satisfied,  and  he  expressed 
a  wish  to  return  and  spend  the  rest  of  his  days  among  his 
kindred.  Accordingly,  he  made  John  promise  to  come 
again  in  the  summer,  and  help  him  to  move  back  with  his 
family  to  Stockton's  Valley. 

It  was  on  this  second  journey  to  the  Green  River  coun- 
try, that,  in  passing  through  Logan  county,  John  stopped 
on  the  roadside  to  witness  some  strange  religious  exercises 
that  had  been  recently  introduced  into  Kentucky,  through 
the  ministrations  of  James  McGready,  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  other  zealous  revivalists. 

For  some  time  previous  to  the  close  of  the  last  century, 
religious  apathy  was  almost  universal  in  the  West.  A 
pious  and  distinguished  minister  of  that  day  declares,*  that 
not  only  the  power  of  religion  had  disappeared,  but  even 
its  very  form  was  fast  passing  away.  An  historian  of  the 
times  testifies,!  that  religious  worship  and  instruction  were 
generally  neglected,  and  even  the  forms  of  religion  were 
imperfectly  maintained.  So  deep  a  slumber  had,  in  fact, 

*  B.  W.  Stone.  f  Ramsey. 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL.  4$ 

fallen  upon  the  Church  that  her  faithful  ministers  had  be- 
gun to  despond,  and  the  scoffer  to  hope  that  her  rebuking 
spirit  had  fled  forever.  But  the  night  at  length  wore  away, 
the  day  dawned  again,  and  the  Church  awoke  from  her 
slumbers  in  the  extraordinary  scenes  of  the  Great  Revival. 

Zealous  missionaries  from  the  older  States  came  out 
among  the  cabins  of  the  West,  and  began  to  preach  to  a 
people  more  familiar  with  the  whoop  of  the  savage  than 
with  the  songs  of  Zion.  In  1799,  McGready  lifted  his 
warning  voice  in  the  hills  of  Tennessee,  and  thousands 
flocked  to  the  forests  to  hear  him.  So  great  sometimes 
were  the  numbers  that  gathered  around  this  herald  of  the 
Cross,  so  far  did  they  journey  from  their  homes,  and  so 
protracted  were  their  seasons  of  religious  enjoyment,  that 
the  multitudes  were  unable  sometimes  to ^procure  shelter 
or  food.  Still  the  awakened  people  continued  to  crowd  to 
the  pulpits.  Provisions  for  several  days'  subsistence  were 
brought  along  with  them  to  meeting ;  blankets  and  straw, 
for  the  use  of  the  families  at  night,  were  thrown  into  their 
wagons,  and  the  vast  congregations  began  to  assume  the 
appearance  of  regular  encampments.  Several  thousands 
of  worshipers  sometimes  gathered  in  these  camps,  where 
days  and  nights,  and  even  weeks,  were  spent  in  the  most 
fervent  religious  exercises. 

"  The  scene  was  strange,  and  often  grand  beyond  descrip- 
tion— not  unfrequently,  it  was  awfully  sublime.  The 
ranges  of  tents  or  wagons — the  fires  reflected  from  the 
branches  of  the  towering  trees — the  lamps  and  candles — 
hundreds  of  excited  persons  hurrying  to  and  fro,  like  Gid- 
eon's army,  with  torches  in  their  hands — the  preaching,  the 
praying,  the  singing,  and  the  shouting,  all  heard  at  once 
rushing  from  different  parts  of  the  ground,  like  the  sound 
of  many  waters — was  enough  to  swallow  up  the  powers  of 
contemplation." 


.  46  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

The  excitement  continued  to  spread  like  a  conflagration 
through  the  land.  In  1800  it  broke  out  in  Kentucky,  and 
extending  to  the  northern  portions  of  the  State,  reached 
its  climax  in  a  general  camp-meeting  at  Cane  Ridge,  in 
Bourbon  County,  held  in  August,  1801.  At  that  place  up- 
ward of  twenty  thousand  persons,  moved  by  the  intensest 
religious  feeling,  encamped  in  the  groves  and  fields  for 
several  days  and  nights  ;  the  multitude  dispersed  at  last, 
only  because  provisions  failed  in  the  country  around. 

These  exercises  were  conducted  mainly  by  ministers  of 
the  Presbyterian  and  the  Methodist  Churches,  though  Bap- 
tists also  sometimes  participated  in  them  ;  but  all  denom- 
inations shared  in  the  general  awakening,  which  continued 
in  the  State  for  several  years. 

But  that  which  most  distinguished  these  meetings,  was 
the  prevalence  of  a  certain  nervous  disorder  that  seized 
many  of  those  who  were  in  attendance.  It  suddenly  struck 
down  some  to  the  earth,  where  they  lay  like  dead  men  for 
hours ;  and  it  threw  others  into  violent  convulsions  that 
were  often  fearfully  protracted.  This  affection  was  invol- 
untary and  contagious,  or,  perhaps,  epidemic.  It  attacked, 
indiscriminately,  the  most  pious  and  the  most  profligate. 
Like  a  panic,  it  sometimes  seized  entire  congregations  of 
worshipers,  until  five  hundred  have  jerked  at  once  with 
strange  convulsions.( 

It  was,  perhaps,  naturally  engendered,  spreading  by 
sympathy,  among  those  who  were  not  exposed  to  the  influ- 
ence of  the  original  causes.  The  imagination,  kept  fixed 
for  days  and  nights  on  images  of  the  most  awful  spiritual 
import ;  the  heart  constantly  stirred  to  its  depths  by  a 
rude,  but  powerful  eloquence  ;  the  fearful  denunciations  of 
Scripture  against  sin,  read  aloud  to  listening  thousands, 
and  the  startling  applications  of  such  texts,  by  earnest 
preachers  whom  the  people  venerated  as  embassadors  of 


STRANGE  PHENOMENA.  47 

Heaven  ;  and  more  than  all,  the  popular  persuasion  that 
God  vouchsafed  to  every  sinner  that  he  pardoned  a  miracle 
of  grace  in  some  outward  sign  or  inward  feeling ;  surely 
these  causes  all  concurring,  and  aided  by  the  imposing 
grandeur  of  an  encampment  at  night,  were  enough  to  pro- 
duce transient,  if  not  permanent  nervous  distempers. 

It  was  regarded  at  the  time,  however,  even  by  wise  and 
good  men,  as  the  immediate  work  of  God,  or  as  the  out- 
pouring of  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  notion  served  to  increase 
the  excitement  of  the  people  ;  and  excesses  that  were  often 
ridiculous  or  disgusting  naturally  followed.  Such  ex- 
tremes, however,  were  always  discountenanced  by  intelli- 
gent Christians,  who  endeavored  to  preserve  in  their  con- 
gregations a  decorous  and  solemn  behavior. 

Young  Smith  witnessed  these  camp  scenes  with  feelings 
akin  to  disgust.  Constituted  as  he  was,  he  could  not  sym- 
pathize with  this  popular  outburst  of  the  religious  instinct. 
Familiar  with  the  calm,  yet  earnest  and  practical  piety  of 
his  father ;  more  conscientious  than  emotional  or  imagina- 
tive in  his  nature ;  solemn  and  worshipful  in  his  regard  for 
things  sacred :  he  looked  on  the  novel  and  extravagant 
scenes  around  him  as  the  result  of  some  delusion  which  he 
could  not  explain,  and  which  only  offended  or  amused  him. 
He  did  not  question  the  soundness  of  the  popular  doctrine 
respecting  the  lioly  Ghost,  which  these  nervous  phenom- 
ena were  supposed  to  confirm ;  for  he  had  been  brought  up 
in  the  belief  of  man's  moral  imbecility  by  nature,  and  of 
his  arbitrary  election  by  grace.  But  he  could  not  see,  in 
these  spasms  and  ecstasies,  any  manifestation  of  that  Spirit, 
whose  breathings  were  blessedness  and  peace.  His  fine 
natural  sense  and  delicate  religious  sentiment,  more  than 
any  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  saved  hirn  from  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  times.  Still  religion  had  become  the  busi- 
ness of  the  people ;  and  he  now  began  to  hear  it  discussed 


48  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

and  commended  wherever  he  went;  so  that  he  felt,  at 
length,  a  more  serious  interest  in  the  subject  than  he  had 
ever  known  before. 

About  that  time,  too,  he  was  much  in  the  company  of 
Isaac  Denton.  This  good  man,  who,  like  other  pastors  of 
the  day,  faithfully  tended  his  flock  without  tithing  them, 
was  sometimes  in  need  of  help  to  raise  corn  for  his  family. 
John,  who  lived  close  by,  and  was  always  ready  to  assist  a 
neighbor,  went  over  at  seed-time  and  at  harvest  to  work 
in  his  field.  Denton  was  a  kind  and  companionable  man, 
always  as  willing  to  teach  his  young  friends  as  they  were 
to  learn.  He  had  a  special  regard,  too,  for  John,  whose 
probity  and  good  sense  promised  much  for  the  Church, 
should  the  Lord  ever  give  him  a  new  heart.  As  they 
toiled  side  by  side  along  the  young  corn-rows,  or  through 
the  ripe  grain,  they  talked  much  together  of  the  mystery 
of  redemption. 

The  faithful  minister  labored  to  impress  on  the  mind  of 
his  young  friend  the  thought  that  the  sinner  is  utterly  dead, 
so  that  he  could  not  obey  God  if  he  would ;  and  utterly 
depraved,  too,  so  that  he  would  not  obey  if  he  could.  He 
reminded  him  that  he  could  not  please  God  without  faith, 
nor  have  faith  till  it  pleased  God  to  give  it ;  that  though 
he  might  acknowledge,  he  could  never  truly  feel  his  des- 
perate wickedness  till  the  Holy  Spirit  should  show  him 
how  vile  and  wretched  a  thing  he  was. 

"  You  can  not,  my  young  friend,"  he  would  say,  in  effect, 
"  you  can  not  have  proper  views  of  God  and  his  law,  of 
Christ  and  his  teachings,  nor  can  you  ever  truly  repent  of 
your  sins,  or  believe  in  a  Savior,  till  your  whole  moral  na- 
ture has  been  changed  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

"And  what  must  I  do,"  his  thoughtful  disciple  would 
inquire,  "  in  order  to  have  this  change  of  which  you  speak 
wrought  within  me  ?" 


PREDESTINA  TION.  49 

"  Nothing,  John ;  God's  grace  is  sovereign  and  uncon- 
ditional. If  you  are  of  his  sheep,  you  will  be  called,  and 
you  will  hear  his  voice  and  follow  him." 

"  But  when,  Mr.  Denton,  will  the  Lord  call  ?" 

"  In  his  own  good  time,  John.  He  has  marked  out 
your  whole  life,  and  determined  your  destiny  according  to 
his  own  wise  but  hidden  and  eternal  purpose." 

"  How,  then,  may  I  know  whether  I  am  one  of  his  sheep 
or  not  ?" 

"  You  will  know  it  by  your  change  when  it  comes  ;  till 
then  you  can  only  wait  on  the  Lord  and  hope." 

"  Mr.  Denton,  if  I  am  left  to  perish,  I  know  it  will  be  on 
account  of  my  sins ;  but  if  I  should  be  saved,  will  it  not 
be  on  account  of  my  goodness  ?" 

"  The  Lord  sees  no  goodness  in  you,  John.  If  you  are 
ever  brought  to  life,  it  will  be  solely  because  it  was  his 
good  pleasure  to  choose  you  for  himself  before  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world,  and  that,  too,  without  any  reference  to 
your  character  or  works  foreseen  by  him.  True,  if  you 
should  be  lost,  if  you  must  perish,  John,  it  will  be  on  ac- 
count of  your  sins,  and  to  the  praise  of  his  glorious  justice." 

"  My  destiny,  you  say,  Mr.  Denton,  is  fixed,  and  I  can 
not  change  it.  I  need  not,  then,  give  myself  any  con- 
cern— I  have  nothing  to  do." 

"  Ah  !  great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness,  John  ;  there  is 
something  for  you  to  do." 

"  What  is  it,  Mr.  Denton  ?" 

"  You  must  pray,  John ;  pray  in  the  dust  and  ashes  to 
the  Lord." 

"  Pray  for  what,  sir  ?" 

"  That  the  blinding  scales  may  fall  from  your  eyes,  and 
that  you  may  see  and  feel  what  you  really  are  in  the  sight 
of  God ;  for  you  are  yet  in  the  gall  of  bitterness  and  the 
bonds  of  iniquity." 
5 


5O  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

John's  interest  in  such  conversations  arose,  not  so  much 
from  any  personal  concern  that  he  felt  at  that  time  in  re- 
ligion, as  from  a  fondness  for  argument.  He  had  now 
reached  an  age  when  young  men  are  usually  prone  to  ques- 
tion the  ground  of  their  early  faith,  and  to  discuss  doctrines 
that  they  had  always  implicitly  believed.  It  was  fortunate 
for  him  then,  that,  at  this  period  of  his  life,  he  was  the 
companion  of  a  man  who  could,  in  some  measure,  confirm 
his  faith  by  argument. 

He  had  never  heard  of  Aristotle  ;  yet,  by  untaught 
methods  of  his  own,  he  analyzed  sharply,  and  readily  in- 
vented argument  or  illustration  to  suit  his  purpose.  He 
loved  the  debating  society,  and  his  shrewd  sense  and  keen 
wit  always  made  him  a  champion.  On  one  occasion,  in  a 
debating  club  of  the  young  neighbors,  an  awkward  ques- 
tion came  up  for  discussion.  The  affirmative  was  so  un- 
tenable, that  no  one  was  found  willing  to  maintain  it.  The 
speakers  massed  themselves  on  the  negative,  and  waited 
for  John,  who  promptly  took  the  weaker  side,  and  led  off 
jn  an  argument  which  the  opposition  assailed  in  vain.  He 
brought  over  the  speakers  themselves  to  his  side  of  the 
question,  and  carried  his  lame  proposition  with  applause 
through  the  house.  Not  willing,  however,  to  triumph  at 
the  expense  of  truth,  he  challenged  the  speakers  to  another 
contest  on  the  spot.  Changing  his  ground  now,  and  ar- 
guing against  himself,  he  reversed  the  decision  of  his 
hearers,  and  won  the  negative  by  a  unanimous  vote. 

This  activity  of  his  discursive  powers  made  him  appear 
at  times  skeptical  in  disposition  ;  but  he  did  not  doubt  be- 
cause he  could  not  understand,  nor  deny  simply  because 
he  could  not  prove.  Still,  whatever  was  unreasonable, 
was  to  him  false,  in  spite  of  testimony.  Almost  without 
prejudice,  his  apparent  skeptical  temper  was  but  a  jealous 
regard  for  truth  itself. 


SKEPTICAL  DISPOSITION.  51 

A  little  incident  of  his  childhood  may  serve  to  illustrate 
this  trait  in  his  mental  character.  A  gentleman  from  the 
neighborhood  of  Lexington  spent  an  evening  at  his 
father's,  and  entertained  the  family  with  an  account  of  the 
rapid  social  progress  of  the  people  in  that  favored  region. 
He  casually  remarked  that  a  certain  wealthy  citizen,  who 
had  recently  built  a  large  house,  had  fastened  on  the 
shingles  with  iron  nails — putting  a  separate  nail  into  every 
shingle.  The  children,  who  sat  listening,  had  never  heard 
of  any  other  nails  than  those  which  were  made  by  the 
blacksmith  on  his  anvil ;  nor*  of  any  other  mode  of  fasten- 
ing on  boards  or  shingles  than  with  small  wooden  pins, 
easily  made  with  a  knife.  They  heard  the  statement  of 
the  stranger,  some  with  indifference,  others  with  simple 
wonder — but  all  save  John,  with  a  ready,  matter-of-course 
faith,  that  never  thought  of  calling  it  in  question.  Father, 
too,  seemed  to  accept  it  as  true,  and  thus  to  confirm  it  by 
his  authority.  But  John  mused  the  whole  matter  in 
silence ;  he  reasoned  for  awhile,  and  then  began  to  doubt, 
and,  finally,  he  rejected  the  whole  story  as  false.  After 
the  stranger  had  gone,  he  ventured  to  speak  his  mind. 

"  Father,"  said  he,  "  do  you  believe  that  there  is  a  house 
in  the  world  with  its  shingles  all  fastened  on  with  iron 
nails  ?" 

"  Certainly,  my  son,"  answered  his  father  ;  "  the  gentle- 
man told  us  so  last  evening,  you  know." 

"  But,  father,"  replied  he,  "  it  would  take  all  the  smiths 
in  the  land  a  life-time  to  hammer  out  nails  enough  for 
such  a  house.  I  do  n't  believe  they  would  be  able  to  do  it 
even  then." 

"  But,"  said  his  father^  carelessly,  "  the  nails  were  not 
hammered  on  the  anvil,  John  ;  they  were  cut." 

Confidence  in  his  father  overcame  his  doubts  for  awhile, 
but  his  restless  thoughts  were  soon  busy,  and  he  reasoned 


52  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN 

himself  into  doubt  again.  He  was  familiar  with  the  cut 
money  of  the  country,  and  with  the  manner  of  making  it. 
He  had  seen  his  father,  when  he  needed  change,  lay  a  sil- 
ver dollar  on  a  block,  and  with  a  cold-chisel,  or  an  ax, 
divide  it  into  halves  and  quarters,  and  even  into  smaller 
pieces.  So,  without  discussing  the  matter  with  others 
any  more,  he  still  argued  it  with  himself.  He  recollected 
how  often  he  had  seen  the  edge  of  the  tools  broken  by  the 
silver ;  and  he  concluded  that  to  cut  nails  enough,  out  of 
iron,  for  the  roof  of  a  large  house,  would  ruin  all  the  chisels 
in  the  world  ;  and  the  young  skeptic  would  not  believe. 

While,  from  a  necessity  of  his  nature,  he  was  thus  true 
to  his  reason,  no  one  was  ever  more  easily  led  by  his  faith. 
He  listened  like  a  child  to  teaching  or  testimony  concern- 
ing things  that  transcended  his  reason,  or  that  lay  beyond 
the  horizon  of  his  knowledge.  When  he  could  not  judge, 
he  was  ready  to  believe ;  but  when  his  mind  could  logi- 
cally grasp  a  statement  or  a  doctrine,  he  believed  only  in 
harmony  with  his  reason. 

The  revival,  of  which  we  have  spoken,  at  length  reached 
the  valley  where  he  lived  ;  and  he  had  an  opportunity  of 
observing  more  closely  its  remarkable  phases.  The  Bap- 
tists of  Clear  Fork  were  almost  universally  the  victims,  or 
the  apologists,  of  the  jerks,  and  other  bodily  exercises,  as 
they  were  called.  Young  Smith  attended  the  frequent 
meetings  that  were  held  in  the  neighborhood,  and  looked 
with  a  curious,  but  still  unaffected  eye,  on  the  scenes 
around  him.  The  pulpit,  he  saw,  was  not  too  sacred  a  place 
for  the  most  unseemly  performances.  The  preacher  him- 
self was  sometimes  seized  with  holy  spasms,  and,  suddenly 
stopping  in  the  midst  of  his  harangue,  would  dance  on  the 
floor  of  the  stand  in  wild  and  uncontrollable  disorder. 
His  brother  William,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  believing  with  the  people  that  these  things  were 


RESOLVES   TO  BECOME  A   CHRISTIAN.  53 

from  heaven,  earnestly  tried  to  persuade  John  also  to  regard 
them  as  divine,  and  even  expressed  the  pious  wish  that,  for 
the  good  of  his  soul,  he,  too,  might  feel  these  jerkings  in  his 
flesh.  But  John  stood  firm,  though  almost  alone,  in  his 
unbelief.  Without  pride  or  perverseness,  he  still  argued, 
in  the  face  of  clerical  and  popular  opinion,  that  it  was  un- 
reasonable to  suppose  that  God  would  send  his  Holy  Spirit 
from  the  skies  to  afflict  his  people  with  convulsions — to 
buffet  and  mock  them,  and  make  them  ridiculous. 

Still,  the  facts  were  evident  and  inexplicable;  and  his      * 
reasonings  were  not  always  satisfactory  even  to  himself. 
He  resolved  at  last  to  examine  the  whole  subject  in  the  light 
of  his  inspired  Reading  Book,  feeling  assured  that  what  was 
so  unreasonable,  he  would  find  to  be  also  unscriptural. 

This  first  careful  examination  of  his  Bible,  though  made 
in  the  spirit  of  controversy,  was  most  important  in  its  re- 
suits  ;  for,  while  he  found  no  text  that  either  sanctioned 
or  explained  the  exercises,  he  was  fully  convinced  from  his 
readings  that  it  was  his  duty  to  be  a  Christian.  He  was 
under  this  deep  and  solemn  conviction,  when  an  incident 
occurred  which  led  him  earnestly  and  perseveringly  to 
seek  religion  after  the  manner  of  the  times.. 

About  the  close  of  the  year  1 803,  his  father,  wj^r  had 
already  lived  out  his  three  score  years  and  ten^ras  seized 
with  a  lingering  illness,  of  which  he  died  on  t$fe  twentieth 
of  March  following. 

The  old  man,  on  his  death-bed,  exhorted  John  to  watch 
his  gay  and  mirthful  temper,  lest  it  should  lead  him  into 
the  company  of  the  vicious. 

"  When  I  am  gone,"  said  he,  "  thoughtless  and  profane 
young  men,  who  find  pleasure  in  a  lively  jest  and  loud 
laugh,  will  seek  you  as  a  companion,  and  draw  you,  if  they 
can,  into  dissipation.  This  is  my  only  fear  ;  and  yet  I 
trust,  my  son,  that  your  good  sense,  and  your  love  for  a 


54  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

father's  memory,  will  keep  you  away  from  their  revels,  and 
lead  you  to  seek  the  society  of  the  good. 

"You  are  now  the  eldest  of  the  boys  that  are  left  at 
home.  Your  more  experienced  brothers  are  living  to 
themselves  ;  and  they  have  cares  enough  of  their  own,  I 
know.  You  are  still  young,  but  I  must  ask  you  to  take 
charge  of  the  farm,  to  watch  over  your  younger  brothers 
and  sisters,  and  to  cherish  your  fond,  old  mother,  who  can 
not  long  stay  behind.  It  is.  my  wish  that  you  live  with 
the  family,  at  least  till  Jonathan  is  old  enough  to  attend 
to  business  ;  that,  when  he  and  Henry  are  grown,  the  farm 
be  divided  equally  between  them  ;  and  that  mother  and 
the  girls  live  with  either,  as  they  may  prefer. 

"And  now  I  know,  my  boy,  that  a  heavy  burden  will 
rest  on  your  young  shoulders  ;  but  do  right,  and  the  Lord, 
to  whose  care  I  commend  you,  will  give  you  wisdom,  and 
bless  you  in  your  undertakings." 

The  dear  old  patriarch  breathed  his  last,  surrounded  by 
his  sons  and  daughters,  for  whose  welfare  he  had  lived, 
and  to  whom  he  now  left  the  richest  of  patrimonies — the 
memory  of  their  father's  pure  and  gentle  and  trustful  life. 


CONVICTIONS  AND  STRUGGLES.  55 


CHAPTER    V. 

Religious  Convictions  and  Soul-Struggles — Dim  views  of  Conversion — Alternations 
of  Hope  and  Despair — Narrations  of  his  Experience — Baptized  by  Elder  Den- 
ton — His  desire  for  Knowledge  increases — Waits  for  a  call  from  the  Lord  to 
Preach — His  thoughts  by  day  and  his  dreams  by  night — Purchases  a  farm  at 
Horse  Hollow — Returns  to  his  old  Home — Goes  to  School  to  Robert  F.  Fer- 
rill — Studies  and  works  with  him — Comes  home  for  the  last  time. 

JOHN  SMITH'S  study  of  the  Scriptures  had  made  him 
conscious  that  he  was  a  sinner;  and  this  consciousness, 
solemnized  by  his  deep,  filial  sorrow,  at  length  presented 
the  usual  symptoms  of  a  spiritual  awakening.  Willing  to 
believe  that  he  was  the  subject  of  a  Divine  influence,  he 
encouraged  those  feelings  which,  he  had  learned  from  the 
experience  of  others,  must  be  felt  in  his  own  heart,  before 
he  could  claim  to  be  a  converted  man.  He  tried  to  feel, 
first  of  all,  not  merely  that  he  was  a  sinner,  but  that  he 
was  the  chief  of  sinners  ;  and,  although  he  believed  that 
such  a  conviction  must  be  produced  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
yet  he  struggled  to  get  this  view  of  his  depravity  by  a 
strict  self-examination.  He  recalled  the  indiscretions  of 
his  past  life,  and  exaggerated  the  follies  of  his  boyhood ; 
he  impugned  the  motives  of  his  best  acts,  and  tried  to  rob 
himself  of  every  virtue ;  still  he  could  not  feel  that  he  was 
more  wicked  than  his  associates,  much  less  that  he  was 
more  depraved  than  those  whose  evil  company  he  had 
always  shunned. 


56  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

It  was  the  popular  notion  of  the  times  that  no  one  could 
know  how  great  a  sinner  he  was,  until  the  spirit  of  God 
uncovered  his  heart,  and  showed  him  all  its  dreadful  pollu- 
tion. "  None  but  those  who  have  felt  it,"  said  a  preacher 
of  that  day,  "  can  know  the  pungent  sorrow  that  wrings 
the  soul  under  a  conviction  of  sin.  But,  in  order  to  pro- 
duce it,  God  puts  his  law  into  the  heart ;  and  this  is  done 
as  instantaneously  as  the  types  of  a  press  leave  their  char- 
acters on  a  sheet  of  paper.  Thus  written  in  the  heart  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,  it  gives  a  knowledge  of  sin,  and  causes 
the  convicted  man  to  cry  out,  '  Unclean,  unclean !  I  am 
worse  than  all  other  men  !'  " 

In  vain  young  Smith  tried  to  feel  this  depth  of  deprav- 
ity. He  had  never  been  guilty  of  any  gross  immorality, 
and,  though  he  extenuated  no  offense  that  he  had  ever 
committed  against  God  or  man,  he  could  not,  with  all  his 
contrition  and  self-abasement,  pronounce  against  himself 
a  judgment  so  unjust. 

But  such  a  conviction,  he  had  been  taught,  was  a  neces- 
sary part  of  all  genuine  religious  experience ;  and  he  almost 
despaired  of  salvation,  simply  because  he  could  not  feel 
that  he  was  too  wicked  to  be  saved. 

At  last,  in  his  efforts  to  abase  himself,  he  thought  of  the 
terrible  Harpes,  whose  atrocities  filled  his  utmost  concep- 
tion of  human  wickedness.  The  thought  that  he  was  worse 
than  they,  was  at  first  false  and  abhorrent  to  his  soul.  But, 
one  day,  he  reflected  that  these  wretches  were  as  ignorant 
as  they  were  vicious  ;  while  he  had  been  brought  up  by 
Christian  parents,  and  instructed  in  every  duty.  He, 
therefore,  had  sinned  against  greater  light,  and  was  more 
guilty  than  murderers,  who  knew  no  law  but  that  of  the 
state.  Reasoning  that  knowledge  is  the  measure  of  re- 
sponsibility, he  finally  persuaded  himself  that  he  was  worse 
than  the  Harpes,  and,  consequently,  more  wicked  than  all 


DIM  VIEWS  OF  CONVERSION.  $? 

other  men.  His  fine  conscience  now  ceased  to  plead  in 
his  behalf,  and  strangely  accepted  this  load  of  fictitious 
guilt.  He  was  overwhelmed  with  the  thought  of  his  wick- 
edness, and  so  tortured  with  remorse  that  he  sank  down  in 
anguish  and  despair. 

Although  such  feelings  were  the  result  of  his  own  reflec- 
tions, yet  his  experience  was  none  the  less  real  and  sincere. 
A  prostration  so  complete,  a  sense  of  guilt  so  bitter,  and 
distinct,  must,  he  thought,  be  the  work  of  that  Spirit  who 
wounds  to  heal,  and  kills  in  order  to  make  alive.  He  tried 
to  borrow  relief  from  his  own  sunny  temper ;  but  the  gloom 
of  a  wrathful  cloud  was  on  him,  and  he  lay  in  its  shadow, 
stricken  and  dismayed. 

His  heart  still  mourned  for  his  father;  worldly  cares  dis- 
tracted his  thoughts,  and  severe  daily  toil  exhausted  his 
strength.  He  went  about  with  a  thoughtful  melancholy 
that  gave  the  family,  especially  his  fond,  old  mother,  much 
concern.  Still  he  did  not  breathe  the  secret  of  his  heart ; 
he  was  wretched,  but  reserved ;  he  shrunk  from  sympathy, 
and  courted  solitude.  He  did  not  speak  out  his  heart  to 
man  ;  but  by  his  bed  at  midnight,  in  the  edge  of  the  forest 
at  noon,  and  in  the  dripping  thickets  at  dawn,  he  fell  on 
his  face  before  God,  and  gave  utterance  to  the  anguish  of 
his  heart. 

He  tried  also  to  get  relief  by  an  earnest  and  persevering 
endeavor  to  abandon  his  sins  and  to  live  a  life  of  gravity 
and  holiness.  He  resolved,  accordingly,  to  quit  the  society 
of  the  frivolous,  and  to  indulge  no  more  in  jests  or  mirthful 
songs.  His  name  had  recently  been  placed  on  the  mus- 
ter-roll of  the  county,  and  the  usual  parade  was  near  at 
hand.  He  knew  the  temptations  that  awaited  him,  for  the 
muster  would  be  an  occasion  of  merriment  and  dissipa- 
tion. He  dreaded  the  trial,  but  prepared  himself  for  it. 
On  the  appointed  day,  before  entering  the  field,  he  went 


"58  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

aside  to  a  wood,  and  there,  kneeling  down,  begged  heaven 
to  strengthen  him.  As  he  came  on  the  ground,  a  group 
of  riotous  companions  greeted  him  with  a  noisy  welcome. 
They  had  often  laughed  at  his  wit,  and  shouted  refrains  to 
his  merry  songs,  and  now  they  expected  to  laugh  away  the 
holiday  at  his  jests. 

"Come,  John,"  said  one  of  them,  seizing  his  arm,  "we 
are  glad  you  have  come ;  we  want  some  of  your  best  songs 
to-day." 

"  Boys,"  said  he,  with  a  solemn  emphasis,  "  I  have  played 
the  fool  for  you  till  I  have  nearly  ruined  my  soul ;  I  have 
resolved  never  to  sing  for  you  again  while  I  live." 

The  reply  was  unexpected,  for  they  knew  nothing  of  his 
penitential  struggles.  They  looked  at  him  for  a  moment 
with  surprise ;  and  then,  as  if  convicted  by  his  words, 
quietly  let  go  his  arm,  and  withdrew.  Firmly  he  thus 
broke  friendship  with  the  world,  and  gained  over  him- 
self a  triumph  that  saved  him  afterward  from  a  thousand 
snares. 

But  his  good  works  failed  to  give  him  peace.  The  hope 
that  he  could  find  relief  in  a  reformation  of  conduct,  per- 
ished at  the  thought,  which  now  came  into  his  mind,  that 
the  law,  which  had  killed,  could  not  also  make  alive ;  that, 
although  he  might  in  future  do  all  that  the  law  required,  he 
could  not  thus  pay  off  the  debts  of  the  past.  Weary  and 
heavy-laden,  humble  and  almost  hopeless,  he  fled  like  a 
stricken  deer  to  a  dense  thicket  of  spice-wood  that  grew 
near  the  house ;  there,  with  his  face  in  the  dust,  and  a  bit- 
ter agony  in  his  heart,  he  besought  his  father's  God  to 
save  him. 

His  own  view  of  the  nature  of  the  process  through  which 
he  was  passing,  forbid  the  thought  of  any  aid  or  comfort 
from  the  Scriptures.  The  Lord,  by  his  Spirit,  had  brought 
him  to  the  dust,  and  only  the  Lord,  by  his  Spirit,  could  lift 


POWER   OF  PRATER.  59 

him  up.  The  thought  that,  humble  and  penitent  as  he  was, 
he  could  arise  and  be  baptized,  calling  on  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  and  thus  have  all  his  sins  washed  away,  never  once 
obtruded  itself  among  his  wildest  dreams  of  r.elief.  That 
he  already  believed,  he  did  not  once  suspect.  He  sup- 
posed that  faith  was  the  gift  of  God,  which  the  sinner  could 
neither  reject  nor  accept  at  will.  He  felt  willing  to  obey 
at  any  sacrifice;  but  he  had  been  assured  that  no  obe 
dience  would  be  acceptable,  unless  it  came  from  the  faith 
which  God  only  could  give.  The  great  desire  of  his  heart 
was  to  be  forgiven,  and  sealed  as  a  child  of  God.  •  This 
was  the  boon  for  which  he  wrestled  morning,  noon,  and 
night;  and,  should  it  ever  please  God  to  grant  it,  he  was 
persuaded  that  the  fact  would  be  made  known  to  him  by 
an  audible  voice — a  significant  vision — a  well-defined  feel- 
ing or  mental  change,  that  would  instantly  give  him  beauty 
for  ashes,  and  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning — that  would  take 
away  the  spirit  of  heaviness,  and  clothe  him  with  the  gar- 
ments of  praise.  For  this  great  change,  then,  he  cried 
from  the  secret  places  of  the  forest,  with  all  the  earnestness 
of  a  broken  and  contrite  spirit. 

One  morning,  while  it  was  yet  dark,  he  arose  from  his 
sleepless  bed,  and  went  out  to  his  favorite  place  in  the 
spice-wood  thicket  to  pray.  The  fragrant  bushes  were 
tangled  with  Summer  vines,  and  the  dews  of  the  night 
hung  heavy  upon  them.  The  startled  birds  flitted  away  at 
his  approach,  and  the  solitude  was  gloomy  and  chill.  He 
entered  the  covert,  and,  bowing  himself  in  prayer,  implored 
rest  for  his  worn  and  weary  soul.  He  knelt  in  hope,  but 
arose  in  despair;  his  wretchedness  and  guilt  seemed  to 
cleave  to  him  still.  He  started  home  through  the  dusky 
meadow,  the  stars  still  bright  above  him ;  but,  as  he  went, 
a  thought,  quick  and  beautiful  as  a  gleam  of  starlight, 
glanced  into  his  soul,  and  dispelled  his  gloom.  It  came  in 


60  LIFE  OF  ELDER   JOHN  SMITH. 

the  familiar  words  of  Stennet,  which  suddenly  occuried  to 
him  with  a  distinctness  and  power  unknown  before : 

"Behold,  the   purple   torrents  run 

Down  from   his  hands,  his  head ; 
The  crimson  tide  puts  out  the  sun, 
His  groans  awake  the  dead. 

"So  great,  so  vast  a  sacrifice, 

May  well  my  hope  revive  ; 
If  God's  own  Son  thus  bleeds  and  dies, 
The  sinner  sure  may  live. 

"  Oh,  that  these  cords  of  love  divine 

Might  draw  me,  Lord,  to  thee  ! 
Thou  hast  my  heart ;   it  shall  be  thine — 
Thine  it  shall  ever  be." 

Hopeless  of  mercy  as  he  had  so  long  been,  he  was  nearly 
overpowered  by  the  sudden  discovery  of  the  boundless  love 
of  Jesus.  He  repeated  the  lines  of  the  hymn  with  wonder 
and  delight.  Every  word  thrilled  him  like  a  voice  from  the 
skies.  He  had  long  been  dwelling  on  the  terrors  of  the 
Lord  as  a  being  of  infinite  justice ;  he  now  fixed  his  gaze 
on  the  Crucified  One,  and  saw  that  he  was  a  being  of  infi- 
nite goodness  also;  and  the  cloud  of  the  Divine  anger 
seemed  to  be  spanned  with  the  radiance  of  hope.  He  felt 
that  this  change  in  the  direction  of  his  thoughts  could  only 
come  from  above,  and  for  a  while  he  rejoiced. 

His  mind  was  so  constituted,  however,  that  he  could  not 
experience  any  sudden  transition  of  feeling  without  some 
reflection.  He  stood  there  in  the  dim  dawn,  and  thought 
on  this  new  phase  in  his  experience.  He  reasoned  that  if 
it  was  wicked  to  break  the  laws  of  a  holy  God,  as  he  had 
done,  it  was  surely  ten-fold  more  heinous  to  sin.  against  a 
being  of  such  goodness  and  love.  The  Divine  love  had 
just  been  the  foundation  of  a  blessed  hope ;  now,  it  seemed, 
as  he  reflected  on  the  subject,  to  be  the  ground  of  a  more 


A   BROTHER'S  JOT.  6 1 

fearful  condemnation.  The  goodness  in  which  he  was 
about  to  trust,  could  not  save  him ;  for  had  he  not  wan- 
tonly sinned  against  it  all  ? 

He  fled  back  in  terror  to  his  place  of  prayer,  and  cast 
himself  on  his  face  in  the  dust.  He  poured  out  his  very 
soul  in  tears  more  bitter,  and  in  supplication  more  piteous 
than  before.  Exhausted  at  last  by  his  long  and  painful 
Struggles,  he  sank  into  the  very  extreme  of  prostrate 
wretchedness.  The  human  heart  could  bear  no  more.  His 
intense  feeling  and  frenzied  thought  relaxed,  and  the  re- 
pose of  exhaustion  succeeded  the  conflict.  His  strong 
mind  then  reacted,  and  he  lay  for  some  moments  in  a 
state  of  dreamy  peace.  His  heart  instinctively  threw  off 
its  burden,  and  he  seemed  to  pass  in  a  moment  from 
"death  unto  life." 

The  day  had  broken,  the  birds  were  singing  in  every 
bush,  the  dews  sparkled  in  the  early  light,  and  the  beauty 
and  the  freshness  of  the  morning  were  around  him.  His 
heart  drank  in  the  influence  of  the  hour,  and  he  was 
happy ! 

He  went  home,  though  not  yet  fully  persuaded  that  he 
was  a  converted  man.  This  assurance  he  was  to  receive 
from  those  who  better  understood  the  work  of  the  Spirit 
than  himself.  He  met  his  brother  William,  who  had  been 
a  member  of  the  Church  for  several  years ;  he  told  him  all 
that  he  had  felt,  and  related  particularly  the  experience  of 
the  morning.  ». 

"  You  are  converted,  John,"  said  he,  and  joy  gushed  to 
his  eyes ;  "  you  are  converted  at  last ! "  and  the  brothers 
embraced,  and  wept  together.  John's  doubts  yielded  to 
the  testimony  of  his  pious  brother,  and  he  spent  the  day 
in  serene  and  cheerful  meditation.  But  after  he  had  slept, 
his  mind  and  heart  recovered  their  usual  tone.  He  was 
able  to  think  and  feel  again,  and  to  struggle  once  more 


62  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

with  despair.  His  doubts  returned,  his  conscience  took  up 
its  burden  again,  and  his  dream  of  heaven  was  over.  He 
immediately  sought  his  brother,  and  begged  him  to  tell  no 
one  of  his  miserable  hope ;  that  it  was  all  a  delusion,  a  lie. 

He  betook  himself  once  more  to  his  spicy  covert,  and 
tried  to  pray  again ;  but  his  soul  was  chilled  with  the  cold- 
ness of  despair.  His  appearance  at  length  began  to  show 
plainly  the  effects  of  his  mental  conflicts.  His  mother's 
eye  had  long  watched,  in  these  outward  signs,  the  painful 
travail  of  her  boy,  and  she  now  ventured  to  inquire,  with 
the  deepest  and  tenderest  concern,  whether  he  had  not  ex- 
perienced the  happy  change. 

"  No,  mother,"  said  he  with  emphasis,  "  I  have  not ;  and 
now  I  do  beseech  you,  as  my  best  earthly  friend,  to  tell  me 
what  more  I  ought  to  do ;  for  I  would  give  the  whole  world 
to  be  a  Christian."  s.  ;: 

"Ah!  John,"  said  she,  and  the  holiest  of  human  tears 
were  in  her  eyes,  "  you  must  wait  the  Lord's  time." 

"  Mother,"  said  he,  in  a  tone  of  despair,  "  I  do  n't  believe 
that  the  Lord's  time  will  ever  come ;  I  shall  die  and  be  lost 
forever ! " 

Isaac  Denton,  too,  apprised  of  all  his  troubles,  and  anx- 
ious for  his  deliverance,  tried  to  comfort  him.  But  this 
good  man  could  only  tell  him  to  go  into  secret,  and  pour 
out  his  soul  to  God — that  he  could  do  no  more.  To  se- 
cret places  he  went ;  but  new  doubts  and  temptations 
assailed  him  ;  and  he  continued  to  sink  and  to  rise  in  alter- 
nate paroxysms  of  feeling,  till  nearly  two  months  had  worn 
away.  He  believed  that  God  had  from  eternity  chosen 
certain  persons  for  eternal  life,  whom  he  would  call  in  due 
time  by  his  Spirit  and  save,  and  that,  too,  without  any  re- 
gard to  their  faith  or  their  works ;  all  others  would  be  left 
to  perish,  notwithstanding  their  struggles  for  life.  The 
thought  that  he  was,  perhaps,  one  of  the  reprobate,  would 


A  SINGULAR  EXPERIENCE.  63 

sometimes  paralyze  his  heart  like  a  touch  of  death.  At 
other  times  he  dreamed  that,  possibly,  he  was  one  of  the 
elect,  and  could  not  be  lost ;  and  with  this  conceit,  he 
would  win  a  moment's  respite  from  despair.  So  varied 
and  severe  were  his  trials,  that  he  was  at  last  urged  by 
his  brother  to  go  before  the  Church  and  submit  the  whole 
matter  to  them ;  they  could,  perhaps,  resolve  his  doubts, 
and  give  him  the  assurance  which  he  could  not  obtain 
from  his  feelings. 

As  some  experiences  were  to  be  related  at  Clear  Fork, 
on  the  following  Saturday,  he  determined  to  go  and  hear 
them,  in  order  to  see  how  others  had  been  brought  from 
darkness  to  light,  and  to  learn  in  what  respect  his  own  ex- 
perience was  imperfect. 

He  stood  in  the  yard  without,  at  the  side  of  the  house, 
close  to  a  crevice  between  the  logs,  through  which  he 
could  see  and  hear  all  that  transpired  within.  An  igno- 
rant and  simple-hearted  old  man  arose  in  the  congregation 
to  tell  his  experience. 

"  Do  you  begin,  my  brother,"  said  the  elder,  "  where  the 
Lord  began  with  you." 

"One  morning,"  said  the  man,  "I  went  out  into  my 
woods  to  pray,  and  I  saw  the  devil ! " 

There  was  a  pause,  and  curious  listeners  leaned  forward 
to  hear,  amon'g  whom  there  was  none  more  anxious  to 
know  the  Lord's  way  of  dealing  with  sinners  than  the 
young  penitent  without,  whose  sad  face  peered  through 
the  parted  logs. 

"  I  saw  the  devil,"  repeated  the  man — "  you  may  all  think 
it  was  imagination  ;  but  I  saw  him  as  plainly  as  I  now  see 
Mr.  Denton  there." 

"And  how  did  he  look?"  asked  an  old  brother,  with 
more  of  curiosity  than  doubt. 

"  He  was  about  the  size  of  a  yearlin',"  said  the  man. 


64  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"  When  I  saw  him  I  could  not  pray,  and  so  I  came  home. 
But  I  went  back  next  day  to  the  same  place,  and  he  was 
gone!  Then  I  was  happy,  for  I  knew  that  the  Lord  had 
saved  me  out  of  his  hands." 

Young  Smith  turned  away  from  the  house  with  sorrow 
and  disgust.  He  prayed  the  Lord  to  keep  his  poor  heart 
from  error,  and  to  lead  him  by  the  right  way  into  the  ever- 
lasting kingdom. 

So  great,  finally,  was  the  estimation  in  which  his  re- 
ligious friends  held  his  long  and  painful  experience — so 
evident  was  it  to  them  that  a  work  of  grace  had  been 
wrought  in  his  heart,  that  they  did  not  hesitate  to  acknowl- 
edge him  as  a  brother,  and  to  urge  him  to  come  forward 
and  relate  the  facts  to  the  congregation,  On  Saturday, 
the  twenty-sixth  of  December,  1804,  he  went  before  the 
Church  and  gave  a  plain  statement  of  his  religious  struggles 
during  the  past  ten  months.  The  Moderator  formally  sub- 
mitted his  case  to  the  brethren.  "All  who  believe,"  said 
he, "  that  the  experience  just  related  is  a  work  of  grace,  hold 
up  their  right  hand," — and  every  hand  in  the  congregation 
was  raised  in  testimony  of  his  conversion  to  God.  The 
next  day,  he  was  immersed  by  Isaac  Denton-  in  the  waters 
of  Clear  Fork  ;  and,  as  soon  as  the  congregation  were 
seated  in  the  house,  the  Elder  called  him  forward  to  the 
altar,  and,  praying  that  he  might  become  a  pillar  in  the 
temple  of  the  Lord,  solemnly  laid  his  hands  on  his  head, 
and  thus  received  him  into  the  fellowship  of  the  Church. 

His  desire  for  knowledge,  which  had  always  been  great, 
seemed  to  increase  with  his  years.  He  mourned  over  his 
ignorance  as  his  greatest  misfortune,  and  wept  at  the 
thought  that  he  was  now  a  man  without  an  education. 
Raised  to  labor  on  a  rough  frontier,  without  schools,  or 
books,  or  educated  society,  he  loved  learning  with  a  natu- 
ral passion.  But  up  to  the  time  of  his  baptism,  he  had 


DESIRE   TO  PREACH.  65 

seen  no  other  books  than  the  three  volumes  which  com- 
posed his  father's  library,  and  those  in  which  he  had 
studied  while  at  school.  After  he  joined  the  Church, 
his  considerate  pastor  hastened  to  put  into  his  hands 
"  Toplady's  Reply  to  Wesley  " — a  work  of  harsh  and  ab- 
struse speculations  on  predestination  and  free-will.  Such 
incidents  as  the  fall  of  a  leaf,  the  time  and  place  of  its  fall, 
were  declared  to  be  eternally  and  unchangeably  fore- 
ordained. 

"  His  decree  who  framed  the  earth, 
Fixed  our  first  and  second  birth; 
Parents,  native  place  and  time, 
All  appointed  were  by  him." 

Such  was  the  sincere  milk  on  which  this  babe  in  Christ 
was  fed  !  And  if  he  read  of  things  which  he  could  not 
understand,  or,  perchance,  receive,  his  mind  was  quieted 
for  the  time  by  the  assurance  that  "  great  is  the  mystery 
of  godliness ! " 

Isaac  Denton  hoped  that  his  young  convert  was  des- 
tined for  the  pulpit,  and  that  the  Lord  would  soon  call 
him  to  minister  in  holy  things.  He  urged  him  to  read, 
therefore,  and 'to  exercise  his  gifts  occasionally  in  public 
prayer  ;  in  a  word,  he  did  every  thing  he  could  to  confirm 
him  in  the  faith,  and  to  keep  his  zeal  alive.  A  desire  to 
preach  soon  seized  on  the  heart  of  his  disciple ;  and  he 
began  to  listen  for  the  voice  which  must  call  him  to  the 
work.  He  had  been  taught  that  unless  specially  called 
as  Aaron  was,  he  could  not,  without  daring  impiety,  stand 
before  the  people  and  expound  the  Scriptures.  He  had 
read  of  the  wicked  king  who  snatched  a  censer  from  the 
altar,  and  went  with  unanointed  head  into  the  presence  of 
the  Lord ;  and  of  the  fearful  wrath  which  punished  his  pre- 
sumption with  leprosy.  He  had  read,  too,  of  the  thought- 
less peasant  that  touched  with  profane  hands  the  falling 
6 


66  LIFE  OF  ELDER   JOHN  SMITH. 

ark ;  and  of  the  quick  vengeance  which  smote  him  with 
sudden  death.  He  trembled,  therefore,  at  the  thought 
of  standing  at  the  sacred  desk  until  the  Lord  had  duly 
anointed  him  to  preach.  The  people  generally,  transfer- 
ring the  ideas  of  a  primitive  religious  age  to  the  Christian 
dispensation,  regarded  preaching  as  a  priestly  function,  and 
looked  on  those  who  taught  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  as 
a  peculiar  and  holy  order  of  men.  They  believed,  too,  that 
the  Lord  not  only  called  men  to  preach,  but  prepared  them 
also  by  a  divine  influence  for  the  work.  An  educated  min- 
istry was  to  them  as  absurd  as  a  self-appointed  one  ;  for 
clerical  wisdom  and  utterance  they  thought  could  come 
only  from  above.  Learning,  consequently,  was  despised 
by  those  whom  the  Spirit  supplied  with  knowledge  ;  and 
it  was  often  the  case  that  the  less  the  learning,  the  greater 
was  the  unction. 

John  Smith's  dream  of  an  education  was  much  disturbed 
by  this  desire  to  preach.  He  had  been  thinking  of  leaving 
home,  as  soon  as  he  could  with  propriety  do  so,  and  of 
going  to  some  more  favored  part  of  the  country,  where 
he  might  attend  a  good  school,  and  sustain  himself  by  his 
labor  at  the  same  time ;  but  the  reflection  that  his  learn- 
ing would  be  useless  if  he  preached — that  a  knowledge  of 
books  would  make  him  depend  less  on  the  power  of  the 
Spirit,  caused  him  to  lay  aside  his  scheme  for  the  present. 
He  felt,  at  the  time,  that  he  could  deny  himself  all  knowl- 
edge, dear  as  it  was  to  his  mind,  rather  than  destroy  his 
influence  by  his  learning.  He  waited  on  the  Lord,  there- 
fore, for  months,  with  patient  awe  ;  and  during  that  time 
kept  under,  as  well  as  he  could,  his  desire  for  an  education. 

So  constantly  was  his  mind  occupied,  in  the  meantime, 
with  the  thought  of  preaching,  that  it  frequently  disturbed 
him  in  his  sleep.  Once,  in  his  dreams,  he  stood  before 
some  imaginary  congregation,  and  lifted  up  his  voice  so 


PURCHASES  A   FARM.  67 

loud,  that  all  the  family  were  startled  from  their  slumbers 
His  mother  had,  at  last,  to  break  the  spell  that  was  on  him, 
by  going  to  his  bedside  and  screaming  in  his  ears : 

"John,  are  you  distracted,  thus  to  preach  without  a 
call?" 

But  John  preached  on  in  his  dreams  at  night,  and  lis- 
tened for  the  heavenly  call  by  day,  until  at  last  he  began 
to  despair  of  hearing  it  at  all. 

A  more  worldly  project,  too,  soon  engaged  his  attention. 
The  region  of  country  lying  on  the  Little  South  Fork  ol 
the  Cumberland,  and  formerly  reserved  as  an  Indian  hunt- 
ing-ground, had  been  recently  thrown  into  market,  and 
was  rapidly  filling  up  with  settlers.  His  brother  William 
had  already  entered  some  of  this  land,  and  John  was  anx- 
ious to  secure  a  home  near  him.  After  visiting  and  ex- 
amining the  country,  he  purchased  of  a  settler  his  head- 
right  to  two  hundred  acres,  for  which  he  paid  him  the  sum 
of  fifty  dollars.  The  land  was  in  Wayne  County,  about 
twelve  or  fourteen  miles  south-east  from  Monticello,  in  a 
wild,  narrow  valley,  called  by  the  people  "  Horse  Hollow," 
a  name  which  had  been  given  to  it  from  the  fact  that,  be- 
fore the  extinction  of  the  Indian  title,  it  had  been  the  ren- 
dezvous of  a  band  of  thieves,  who  used  to  hide  their  stolen 
horses  in  that  secluded  spot.  As  soon  as  he  could  make 
the  necessary  arrangements  at  home,  he  went  to  live  with 
his  brother,  and  began  his  preparations  for  opening  up 
his  farm.  It  had  been  already  settled;  that  is,  some  strag 
gling  backwoodsman  had  acquired  a  title  to  it,  notched  the 
corner  trees  with  his  ax,  raised  the  pen  of  his  log  cabin 
upon  it,  and  called  it  his  home  ;  but,  saving  these  improve- 
ments, it  was  as  wild  and  rough  a  piece  of  wilderness  as 
could  be  found. 

In  the  midst  of  his  preparations  for  farming,  however, 
word  was  brought  to  him  that  a  man  of  some  learning  had 


68  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

moved  into  Stockton's  Valley,  and  was  about  to  open  a 
school.  His  desire  for  an  education  suddenly  revived ;  the 
present  opportunity  could  not  be  lost,  and  he  resolved  to 
improve  it.  Dropping  his  ax,  and  abandoning  his  wild 
land  in  the  Hollow,  he  went  back  to  his  old  home,  and 
took  up  his  books  once  more. 

Robert  F.  Ferrill,  a  wheel-wright  by  trade,  had  moved 
out  from  Virginia,  and  opened  a  shop  in  Stockton's  Valley. 
He  was  a  sober  and  industrious  man.  He  had,  for  that 
day,  a  good  English  education,  and  had  brought  along 
with  him  a  few  choice  books,  which  at  once  gave  him  great 
reputation  among  the  people  as  a  scholar.  As  the  busi- 
ness of  his  shop  would  not  for  awhile  require  much  of  his 
attention,  he  was  persuaded  to  take  up  a  school  for  the 
benefit  of  the  children  of  the  neighborhood.  Every  day 
John  Smith  walked  nearly  four  miles  to  this  school,  and 
was  always  in  his  place  at  the  appointed  hour.  For  a  few 
weeks  his  studies  were  uninterrupted.  He  made  rapid 
progress ;  for  Ferrill  was  a  competent  and  faithful  instruc- 
tor. But  there  was  soon  a  more  urgent  demand  for  wheels 
than  for  learning ;  and  the  teacher  found  that  he  could  not 
attend  to  his  young  friends,  and  serve  his  more  profitable 
customers  at  the  shop.  The  bustling  mothers  clamored 
for  their  spindles,  and  would  not  wait  on  the  schoolmaster ; 
so  he  was  forced  to  dismiss  his  school,  and  to  give  all  his 
time  to  the  making  and  mending  of  wheels. 

But  Ferrill  was  a  kind-hearted  man  ;  he  saw  how  much 
John  loved  knowledge,  and  how  readily  he  acquired  it ;  and 
he  could  not  bear  to  turn  him  off  in  the  midst  of  his  strug- 
gle for  a  little  learning.  He  invited  him,  therefore,  to  come 
to  his  house,  and  live  with  him,  and  to  read  his  books,  and 
study  whatever  he  wished  to  learn.  Anxious  as  John  was 
to  go  to  school,  he  would  have  declined  the  kind  offer,  had 
it  not  been  made  with  the  understanding  that  he  could 


PURSUES  HIS  STUDIES.  69 

compensate  his  teacher  by  working  on  his  farm.  He 
would  not  have  accepted  even  an  education,  if  it  had  been 
offered  as  a  charity.  He  could  serve  others  without  a  fee ; 
but  a  debt  of  any  kind  disquieted  his  conscience.  He 
went,  therefore,  to  work  and  to  study  with  his  teacher  and 
friend.  Taking  quarters  in  the  humble  shop,  he  toiled  at 
the  bench  or  in  the  field  through  the  day,  and  sat  down  to 
his  lessons  at  night  by  the  blaze  of  a  light-wood  fire,  at  last 
realizing  the  cherished  wish  of  his  heart — a  few  good  books, 
and  a  friend  competent  to  give  him  instruction. 

Under  the  shed  of  this  generous  wheel-wright,  John 
Smith  received  the  most  of  his  education.  His  studies 
were  few,  it  is  true,  and  confined  to  the  rudiments  of 
things;  but  what  he  learned,  he  learned  well,  and  thus 
made  up  for  the  lack  of  variety.  He  pondered  every  word 
that  he  read,  and  revolved  every  fact  and  principle,  until  it 
was  clearly  defined  in  his  understanding.  His  mind  was 
intensely  conscious  of  its  impressions,  and  his  conceptions 
of  things  were  remarkably  distinct.  He  grappled  difficul- 
ties with  an  energy  and  patience  that  never  despaired ;  and 
seemed  to  love  those  questions  best  which  gave  him  the 
most  trouble  to  solve.  When  Ferrill  was  absent,  John 
took  care  of  the  farm,  and  pursued  his  studies  alone. 
Night  after  night,  by  the  light  of  his  blazing  pine  knots, 
he  toiled  alone  at  some  difficult  problem,  till  the  night  itself 
w^s  gone.  If  he  needed  assistance,  while  his  teacher  was 
away,  he  traversed  the  farms,  for  miles  around,  with  book 
in  hand,  in  search  of  some  one  to  answer  his  questions. 

When,  at  last,  he  felt  that  he  had  taxed  his  kind  friend 
long  enough,  he  went  over  to  his  mother's,  and  arranging 
the  affairs  of  the  farm  so  that  she  could  get  along  in  future 
without  him,  he  left  his  home  for  the  last  time,  and  went 
back  to  live  with  his  brother  in  the  Hollow. 


7O  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Leads  in  Family  Prayer — His  conscientious  Self-examination,  and  doubts  as  to  the 
Genuineness  of  his  Conversion — Doubts  simply  because  he  can  not  doubt — 
Persuaded  to  Speak  at  a  Social  Prayer  Meeting  —  Revulsion  of  feeling  —  His 
fervent  Exhortation — Anna  Townsend — Marries — Moves  to  "The  Hollow'1 — 
Cheerless  aspect  of  his  Cabin — Improves  his  Cabin,  and  cultivates  his  Farm — 
Conversion  of  his  Wife — Preacher  Barnes  and  his  wants — A  novel  Discus- 
sion— Adventure  with  a  vicious  Bull — Brother  Leland  and  the  Presbyters. 

His  neighbors,  if  people  so  widely  scattered  might  so  be 
called,  were  honest,  but  ignorant — a  plain,  hard-working 
and  pious  people,  who  spent  the  day  in  toil,  and  gathered 
in  at  night  to  their  cabins,  to  sing,  and  to  talk  religion. 
They  were,  for  the  most  part,  Baptists,  whose  hearts  still 
glowed  with  the  warmth  of  the  late  revival.  John's  natu- 
ral gifts  and  newly-acquired  attainments  soon  gave  him 
prominence  among  them,  and  they  often  constrained  him 
to  lead  at  the  cabin  altar.  His  zeal  was  soon  rekindled, 
and  he  became  powerful  in  prayer  and  song.  There  \v^s 
no  church  in  the  neighborhood,  but,  having  brought  his 
letter  from  Clear  Fork,  he  took  membership  with  a  con- 
gregation whose  place  of  meeting  was  some  fourteen  miles 
distant.  There  was,  of  course,  no  preacher  among  the 
people  ;  but  he  went  from  house  to  house,  and  met  his 
brethren  in  fireside  exhortation  and  social  prayer. 

It  was  one  of  the  popular  notions  of  the  day,  that  what- 
ever might  have  been  the  experience  of  a  young  Christian, 


CONSCIENTIOUS  SELF-EXAMINATION.  J\ 

he  should  still  feel  doubtful  respecting  his  conversion, 
walk  very  humbly  with  his  God,  and,  until  full  assurance 
came  to  him  from  above,  only  hope  that  his  sins  had  been 
forgiven.  Nothing  caused  the  older  members  of  the 
Church  to  suspect  the  genuineness  of  his  conversion  so 
much  as  a  bold  and  joyful  assurance.  If,  in  view  of  his 
own  experience,  he  could  not  find  it  in  his  heart  to  doubt, 
his  aged  brethren  doubted  for  him.  The  slightest  incident 
or  phase  of  feeling  was  often  deemed  a  sufficient  ground 
for  this  self-distrust,  so  that  the  doubt  was  sometimes  no 
better  founded  than  the  hope.  An  honest  old  neighbor 
of  Smith  used  to  relate,  as  a  peculiar  incident  in  his  expe- 
rience, and  as  the  ground  of  his  doubt,  that,  having  one 
night  .obtained  a  hope  while  listening  to  a  fervent  exhor- 
tation, he  found  that  the  penitential  tears  which  he  freely 
shed  on  the  occasion  flowed  from  only  one  of  his  eyes, 
while  the  other  would  not  weep,  but  was  obdurate  and 
dry.  On  making  this  discovery,  he  dismissed  as  vain  the 
hope  in  which  he  had  rejoiced,  and  resolutely  maintained 
before  his  brethren  that  he  had  not  been  converted  at 
all — but  that  he  was  a  poor,  weak  hypocrite  in  the  sight 
of  God  ! 

Assured  that  the  Lord  had  once  spoken  peace  to  his 
soul,  John  Smith  could  not  now  doubt  the  fact.  His  later 
experience,  too,  tended  to  increase  his  self-confidence. 
Though  he  often  tried  to  doubt,  yet  he  found  no  reason 
to  suspect  that  he  was  not  a  child  of  God.  At  length, 
this  very  confidence  seemed  to  him  like  pride ;  and  he 
would  have  exchanged  it  all  for  a  little  humble-minded 
self-distrust.  He  persuaded  himself,  in  the  end,  that  such 
an  assurance  as  his  could  come  only  from  the  flesh ;  and 
he  doubted  at  length  simply  because  he  could  not  doubt. 

His  interest  in  the  religious  affairs  of  the  neighborhood 
continued  to  increase.  His  zeal  gave  warmth  to  the  fam- 


72  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

ily  prayers,  and  to  the  social  worship.  The  cabins  of  his/ 
brethren  were  filled  by  turns,  as  the  frequent  appoint- 
ment for  meeting  went  round  the  neighborhood.  He  was 
often  urged  to  exhort  his  brethren,  and  he  felt  a  strange 
desire  to  give  utterance  to  the  feelings  which  these  occa- 
sions always  excited  within  him.  But  still  he  waited  foi 
a  call — for  some  bush  to  burn,  or  other  sign  to  appear,  thai 
would  assure  him  of  the  Lord's  consent.  His  brethren 
urged  that,  when  God  gives  a  man  a  talent,  he  gives  the 
right  to  use  it  also  ;  and  that,  if  he  could  not  preach,  yet  he 
might,  without  presumption,  at  least  speak  a  word  of  ex- 
hortation to  them.  He  was  finally  persuaded  Vo  lay  aside 
his  scruples,  and  one  evening,  at  the  social  prayer  meeting, 
he  consented  to  say  a  few  words  to  the  people.  His 
heart,  on  that  occasion,  was  full,  for  the  song  and  the 
prayer  had  stirred  his  spirit,  and  the  inspiration  of  the 
hour  was  on  him.  The  room  was  crowded  ;  the  blaze 
from  the  hearth  shone  full  upon  his  face,  as  he  arose  and 
stood  with  bashful  emotion  near  the  little  table.  He  gazed 
on  the  faces  around  him  ;  and  a  strange,  bewildering  tor- 
rent of  feeling  rushed  to  his  heart.  His  mind  was  sud- 
denly darkened  ;  the  thoughts  which  he  had  meditated  for 
the  occasion  left  him.  He  tried  to  recall  them,  but  he 
could  not ;  his  lip  quivered,  and  he  was  speechless.  Turn- 
ing from  the  stand,  he  rushed  from  the  house  into  the 
darkness  without.  He  fled  across  the  yard  like  one 
affrighted,  intending  to  quit  a  place  where  the  Lord  had 
thus  rebuked  him.  But  as  he  ran,  his  foot  struck  against 
something,  and  he  fell,  and,  for  a  moment,  he  lay  stunned 
on  the  ground.  When  he  arose,  the  cloud  seemed  to  be 
lifted  from  his  mind  ;  his  thoughts  came  back  to  him,  clear 
and  distinct ;  and  he  felt  that  he  had  the  power  of  utter- 
ance once  more.  He  returned  to  the  house,  where  his 
brethren  still  sat.  Standing  in  their  midst  again,  he 


ANNA   TOWNSEND.  73 

spoke  with  such  fluency  and  fervor  of  soul  that  his  ex- 
hortation seemed  indeed  to  be  with  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

He  continued  to  exhort  at  these  meetings,  whenever 
pressed  to  do  so  ;  but  his  mind  was  disturbed  more  or 
less,  all  the  while,  by  the  want  of  a  special  call.  He  hoped 
on,  however  ;  and,  as  he  was  too  unimaginative  to  see  a 
ghostly  vision,  he  watched  for  some  simple  sign,  which  he 
might,  with  reason,  interpret  as  the  voice  of  God. 

It  was  not  long  before  a  vision  came — an  unspiritual 
one,  indeed,  but  none  the  less  beautiful  on  that  account, 
and  none  the  less  powerful  in  its  influence  upon  his  life. 
At  one  of  those  meetings  for  prayer,  as  he  thoughtfully  sat 
and  looked  on  the  group  around  him,  his  eyes  rested  on 
the  features  of  a  young  woman  by  the  name  of  Anna 
Townsend.  She  had  occasionally  come  with  her  parents 
to  meeting ;  and  had  listened  with  some  interest  to  the 
exhortations  of  the  young  stranger ;  but  not  until  that 
moment  had  she  ever  been  the  object  of  his  special  re- 
gard. Now,  her  thoughtful  and  serene  face,  rich  with  the 
pleasing  bloom  of  healthful  and  womanly  beauty,  strangely 
impressed  the  heart  of  the  young  man  and  Christian ;  and 
his  destiny  was  shaped  by  the  vision  of  that  hour. 

John  Smith  was  not  without  susceptibility ;  and  he  was 
by  no  means  wanting  in  a  tender  regard  for  the  other  sex. 
His  respect  for  all  virtuous  women  was,  in  fact,  unbounded. 
But  he  was  averse  to  gallantry,  free  from  every  tinge  of  ro- 
mance, and  wholly  unskilled  in  the  arts  of  courtship.  He 
had  a  notion,  too,  that  no  young  man  should  mingle  much 
in  the  society  of  young  women,  till  he  had  first  made  up 
his  mind  to  marry  ;  and  that  he  should  then  proceed,  in  a 
business-like  way,  to  seek  one  that  was  suitable,  and  will- 
ing to  become  his  wife.  He  had  conscientiously  governed 
himself  by  this  rule ;  for,  although  he  was  now  in  the 
7 


74  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

twenty-second  year  of  his  age,  he  had  never  spoken  to 
more  than  one  or  two  young  women  in  his  life. 

The  impression  which  Anna  Townsend  made  on  his 
heart  that  evening  was  serious  and  abiding.  He  was  now 
a  man  in  years,  and  the  owner  of  two  hundred  acres  of 
land  ;  he  had  left  the  parental  roof  forever,  and  he  felt  that 
he  could  push  his  own  fortunes  in  the  world.  He  resolved, 
therefore,  to  take  a  wife.  After  a  few  days'  deliberation 
he  made  his  first  visit  to  the  cabin  of  old  Mr.  Townsend, 
and  on  the  gih  of  December,  1806,  he  wedded  the  first 
and  only  maiden  that  he  had  ever  loved. 

On  the  next  morning  he  proposed  to  his  wife,  as  his 
clearing  was  some  four  miles  off,  and  he  would  lose  too 
much  time  in  going  so  far  to  his  work  every  day,  that 
they  should  move  over  at  once  to  their  house  in  "  The 
Hollow,"  and  live  to  themselves.  The  proposal  accorded 
with  her  own  wishes ;  for,  in  the  mind  of  a  young  wife,  the 
idea  of  domestic  independence  is  inseparable  from  that  of 
home.  The  preparations  to  move  were  soon  made.  A  deep 
and  heavy  snow  had  fallen  during  the  night,  and  the  shrubs 
and  vines  were  weighed  down  and  tangled  across  the  nar- 
row paths,  until  the  forest  was  almost  impassable.  An  ox- 
sledge,  drawn  by  a  sturdy  yoke,  was  made  ready.  A  bed, 
a  few  cooking  utensils,  and  some  provisions — the  gift  of 
the  mother,  and  the  bride's  only  dowry — were  placed  upon 
it.  The  bride  herself  sat  bravely  on  the  sledge,  in  the 
midst  of  her  household  stuff,  while  the  groom,  with  his  ax 
on  his  shoulder,  stepped  proudly  on  ahead  to  guide  the 
floundering  team,  and  to  cut  open  a  road  to  his  cabin. 

It  was  but  an  undaubed  pen  of  logs.  Through  many  a 
crevice  the  snow  had  drifted  in,  and  it  lay  in  piles  on  the 
earthy  floor.  The  little  square  window  was  unshuttered 
and  unglazed,  and  the  entrance  was  closed  against  them 
by  the  bending  shrubs.  He  cleared  away  the  straggling 


CHEERLESS  ASPECT  OF  HIS  CABIN.  75 

branches,  and  his  wife  went  in  and  took  possession  of  her 
cheerless  home.  Gaping  walls,  a  floor  of  dirt,  and  a 
stoneless  hearth  heaped  with  sooty  snow,  were  all  that  met 
her  eyes  as  she  looked  for  the  first  time  on  her  own  fire- 
side. But  in  a  little  while,  Smith  had  provided  abundant 
fuel ;  his  flint  yielded  the  ready  spark,  and  a  heap  of  logs 
and  rich  faggots  soon  blazed  like  a  conflagration  in  the  fire- 
place. But  an  empty  cabin,  without  a  puncheon  or  a  hearth- 
stone, and  open  on  all  sides  to  December  storms,  was  cer- 
tainly no  luxurious  chamber  for  a  bride,  no  very  pleasant 
home  for  a  young  and  hopeful  wife.  But  she  knew  nothing 
of  luxury,  and,  therefore,  felt  none  of  the  wants  which  it 
creates.  They  were  poor,  indeed ;  but  their  poverty  was 
unfelt ;  for  none  of  their  neighbors  were  rich,  and  all  alike 
were  accustomed  to  privation  and  toil. 

The  roaring  fire  soon  thawed  the  hovel,  and  the  dirty 
walls  and  the  unsightly  floor  were  swept  again  and  again. 
Smith,  having  cut  a  few  stout  logs,  of  the  proper  length 
and  thickness,  brought  them  in  upon  his  shoulders,  and 
laid  them  down  for  sleepers,  in  a  corner  of  the  room. 
Across  these  he  placed  some  clap-boards,  found  piled  in 
the  woods  close  by.  On  this  rude  platform  the  bed  was 
laid,  while  a  spare  coverlet  or  two  was  hung  against  the 
wall,  to  turn  the  cold  wind  which  rushed  in  through  every 
crevice.  When  the  evening  came  on,  the  fire  was  replen- 
ished ;  a  great  log  was  rolled  before  the  hearth,  and  the 
contented  pair  sat  down  together  upon  it  in  the  light  of  the 
cheerful  blaze,  and  talked  over  the  toils  of  the  coming  day. 

His  task  for  the  winter  was,  to  clear  a  few  acres  of  land, 
and  have  a  field  in  readiness  for  planting  in  the  early  spring. 
During  the  day,  he  labored  alone  in  the  clearing — girdling 
the  larger  trees,  and  cutting  out  the  undergrowth  of  shrubs, 
whose  pole-like  trunks  he  trimmed,  and  piled  away  for  fenc- 
ing. At  night,  he  worked  in  his  fire-lighted  cabin,  cheered 


76  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

and  assisted  by  his  wife.  The  walls  were  soon  well  chinked 
and  daubed ;  a  shutter  was  made  for  the  window,  and  the 
awkward  door  was  shaped  and  fitted  till  it  shut  out  the 
wintry  storms.  His  ax  and  wedge  prepared  the  puncheons 
in  the  forest,  which  he  laid  down  at  night  on  the  oaken- 
sleepers,  and  then  smoothed  well  with  his  adze.  A  few 
evenings  thus  spent,  and  he  stepped  on  as  firm  a  floor  as 
cabin  ever  had ;  no  happier  feet  ever  pressed  a  carpet  in 
the  mansions  of  the  rich. 

He  next  cut,  from  the  forest,  the  trunk  of  a  young  dog- 
wood tree,  which  forked  at  the  proper  height  from  the 
ground ;  and,  having  trimmed  it,  he  set  it  up  in  his  cabin 
for  the  outer  corner-post  of  his  bedstead.  One  end  was 
let  into  the  floor,  with  the  augur ;  the  other  was  fastened 
securely  to  the  joist  above.  Two  hickory  poles,  which 
served  for  rails,  rested  at  right  angles  to  each  other  in  the 
fork  of  this  post,  and  in  the  crevice  of  the  log  on  each  side 
of  the  corner.  Across  this  frame,  peeled  hickory  rods 
were  laid,  in  close  parallels,  for  slats ;  strips  of  clean  linden 
bark,  easily  torn  from  the  tree  at  almost  any  season  of  the 
year,  were  next  laid  down  ;  the  bed,  with  all  its  wealth  of 
covering,  was  then  spread,  and  the  arrangements  for  re- 
pose were  complete. 

The  labor  of  inclosing  and  cultivating  a  farm,  in  the 
wilderness,  without  help,  was  severe ;  but  he  found  time  to 
keep  alive,  not  only  his  own  religious  zeal,  but  that  of  his 
neighbors  also.  He  had,  by  his  fervent  piety,  and  his  force 
of  character,  come  to  be  the  religious  head  of  a  scattered 
brotherhood.  He  had  persuaded  them  to  keep  up  their 
society  meetings,  at  which  he  was  always  present,  to  con- 
firm or  to  comfort  them  by  words  of  exhortation ;  and  he 
now  began  to  urge  them  to  come  together,  and  to  consti- 
tute themselves  regularly  into  a  church. 

His  wife,  who  was  unconverted  at  the  time  of  her  mar- 


CONVERSION  OF  HIS    WIFE.  77 

riage,  soon  became  deeply  concerned  on  the  subject  of 
religion.  He  was,  of  course,  much  interested  in  the  prog- 
ress of  her  experience;  but  he.  reverently  and  hopefully 
left  her  alone  with  her  God.  The  young  husband,  who,  in 
any  other  trouble,  would  have  succored  her,  even  at  the 
sacrifice  of  his  life,  abandoned  her  in  this,  the  most  solemn 
and  perplexing  of  her  trials  ;  for  no  obtrusive  human  agency, 
thought  he,  must  interfere  with  the  work  of  the  Spirit. 
She  asked  him,  one  day,  what  was  the  meaning  of  a  certain 
text ;  and  he  was  too  considerate  to  give  her  any  explana- 
tion at  the  time,  fearing  that,  in  the  simplicity  of  her  un- 
regenerate  heart,  she  might  improperly  take  comfort  from 
it,  and  rely  more  on  the  Word  than  on  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Her  joyous  deliverance,  at  last,  relieved  his  own  heart  and 
fired  anew  his  zeal  for  God. 

His  brethren,  scattered  through  the  wild  country  in 
which  he  lived,  came  together  at  his  call,  and  were  regu- 
larly constituted  into  a  church  of  seventeen  members,  by 
Isaac  Denton,  who,  by  special  •  request,  had  come  from 
Stockton's  Valley  to  officiate  on  the  occasion.  A  log 
meeting-house  was  soon  built,  though  several  miles  dis- 
tant from  his  cabin ;  and  a  preacher,  Richard  Barrier,  was 
persuaded  to  take  the  young  church  for  awhile  under  his 
ministerial  charge. 

It  was  usual  among  the  Baptist  preachers  of  that 
day,  and  it  is  yet  the  custom  in  some  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, to  unite  four  congregations  under  one  pastorate.  Al- 
though each  was  visited  but  once  a  month,  such  members 
as  lived  at  a  convenient  distance,  and  were  zealously 
enough  disposed,  often  followed  the  preacher  around  his 
pastoral  cycle,  and  thus  enjoyed  his  ministrations  every 
Sabbath. 

It  should  be  remembered,  too,  that  the  preachers  of  that 
day  were  a  class  of  hardy  pioneer  farmers,  who  had  not 


78  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

forgotten  the  church-tax  which  they  and  their  fathers  used 
to  pay  in  Virginia,  to  support  the  ministry  of  an  established 
religion.  They  seemed  to  have  made  it  a  point  of  Christian 
honor,  after  the  war  was  over,  to  preach  the  Gospel  with- 
out charge,  and  to  support  themselves  independently,  by 
hard  labor,  through  the  week.  But  little,  if  any  thing,  was 
paid  to  them  as  a  salary ;  some  were  even  zealous  enough 
to  neglect  their  own  families  for  the  sake  of  the  Church, 
and  to  let  their  own  corn-fields  grow  up  in  weeds,  that 
they  might  work  the  more  constantly  in  the  vineyard  of 
the  Lord.  The  people  had  learned  so  thoroughly  the  les- 
son of  muzzling  the  ox,  that  they  could  see  .their  faithful 
pastors  in  want  without  making  much  effort  to  relieve 
them.  In  fact,  they  had  been  educated,  by  the  preachers 
themselves,  into  the  notion  that  it  was  sinful  to  pay  men 
for  preaching  the  Gospel. 

Within  the  bounds  of  Stockton's  Valley  Association — a 
community  dismissed  from  the  old  Green  River  Associa- 
tion, in  1804 — there  lived  and  labored  for  many  years  a 
gentle-hearted  and  godly  old  preacher,  by  the  name  of 
Barnes.  He  was  very  poor  in  spirit  and  in  purse,  homely 
in  countenance  and  person,  and  exceedingly  humble  in  his 
demeanor  before  God  and  man.  He  lived  in  a  rude  cabin 
among  the  rocky  hills,  with  but  little  worldly  care  beyond 
the  maintenance  of  a  small  family,  and  of  a  faithful  old 
horse  that  had  long  carried  him  around  the  monthly  circuit 
of  his  four  congregations. 

One  summer  a  very  severe  drouth  came  upon  the  land, 
so  that  but  little  corn  was  raised,  and  every  green  thing 
was  withered  and  parched.  Poor  Barnes  felt  keenly  the 
pinch  of  famine,  as  bread  and  meat  began  to  fail  him,  and 
as  the  dry,  dead  leaves  on  the  hill-side  no  longer  furnished 
provender  for  old  Gray.  Still,  master  and  beast  made  their 
accustomed  rounds,  though  with  less  and  less  spirit,  as  the 


PREACHER  BARNES  AND  HIS   WANTS.  79 

dreary  year  wore  on.^  At  last,  at  one  of  his  monthly  meet- 
ings, after  the  sermon  of -the  day  was  over,  and  the  church 
was  seated  in  a  business  session,  a  kind  and  thoughtful 
man  by  the  name  of  McKenzie,  who  had  noticed  the  lean- 
ness of  the  preacher's  horse,  arose,  and  proposed  that  if 
any  of  the  brethren  could  conveniently  spare  a  little  meal 
or  corn,  they  should  send  it  to  brother  Barnes's  family,  with- 
out delay.  He  enforced  his  appeal  by  remarking,  that 
brother  Barnes  had  been  preaching  for  them  faithfully,  lo 
these  many  years,  and  yet  the  church  had  never  been 
called  on  to  contribute  any  thing  for  his  support. 

The  old  preacher  sat  near  by,  with  his  head  bowed  to 
his  lap,  and  his  face  covered  with  his  hands,  which  were 
brawny  and  brown  with  toil.  The  suggestion  was  at  once 
opposed  by  a  brother  who  was  zealous  for  the  law  and  the 
usages  of  the  church.  He  argued  that  the  Lord  did  not 
tax  his  children  to  support  the  Gospel ;  that  he  had  or- 
dained that  it  should  be  dispensed  without  money  and 
without  price ;  that  gifts,  by  way  of  compensation,  to  those 
who  preached  it,  were  apt  to  puff  them  up  with  pride,  and 
that,  though  brother  Barnes  rode  some  distance  to  speak 
to  the  people,  many  of  them  came  quite  as  far  to  hear  him. 

McKenzie  rejoined,  that,  in  his  opinion,  the  law  of 
Christ  was  explicit,  clearly  commanding  that  they  who 
preach  the  Gospel  should  live  of  the  Gospel ;  and  he  urged 
the  proposed  contribution  on  legal  as  well  as  charitable 
grounds. 

But  his  opponent  replied  with  emphasis,  that  he  was 
surprised  to  hear  the  Scripture  in  question  quoted  as  re- 
ferring to  such  things  as  meat  and  bread ;  that  it  was  to 
be  understood  only  in  a  spiritual  sense.  "To  live  of  the 
Gospel,"  said  he,  "is  to  live  on  the  sweet  and  heavenly 
feelings  which  the  Gospel  produces.  On  these  divine 
things  the  preacher  ought  to  feed." 


8O  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Old  brother  Barnes  suddenly  raised  his  head,  and  asked : 

"  But  what  is  old  Gray  to  do,  my  brother  ?  he  can't  live 
on  them  sort  of  feelin's." 

The  preacher  in  charge  of  the  new  church  was  not  long 
in  discovering  John  Smith's  qualifications  for  the  ministry  ; 
and  he  at  once  proposed  to  the  congregation  that  liberty 
should  be  given  him  to  improve  his  gifts,  wherever  Provi- 
dence should  open  for  him  a  door.  As  a  licentiate,  Smith 
was  more  than  ever  troubled  about  his  call,  especially  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  he  would  soon  be  urged  by.  his 
brethren  to  submit  to  ordination.  He  now  watched  every 
phase  of  ordinary  Providence  without,  and  every  change 
of  feeling  within,  in  hope,  that  in  some  incident  or  expe- 
rience, he  might  find  the  encouragement  that  he  sought. 
For  he  had  now  persuaded  himself  that  this  encouragement 
would  be  given,  if  given  at  all,  by  means  of  some  simple 
token,  and  in  some  natural  way. 

One  day,  after  he  had  been  working  hard  in  his  field,  he 
sat  down  on  a  log,  by  the  edge  of  the  forest,  to  rest  him- 
self. He  had  sat  thus  some  time,  lost  in  thought,  when, 
looking  down,  he  saw  coiled  on  the  ground,  between  his 
feet,  a  large  rattlesnake.  He  sprang  aside  unharmed ;  for 
the  reptile  seemed  restrained,  as  if  some  spell  was  on  it. 
As  he  went  back  to  his  plowing,  he  thought  of  Gideon  and 
his  fleece,  and  he  wondered  whether  the  Lord  had  not  sent 
this  charmed  sna^e  as  a  sign  that  he,  too,  should  help  to 
deliver  Israel. 

Having  begun  to  interpret  such  incidents  in  this  way,  it 
seemed  to  him  that,  for  some  reason,  the  Lord  was  multi- 
plying his  special  providences  around  him. 

Not  long  afterward,  he  bought  from  a  drover  a  very 
large  ox,  intending  to  fatten  him  for  the  market  of  Monti- 
cello.  After  driving  him  home,  he  found  that  he  was  a 
most  vicious  and  refractory  animal.  He  resolved,  one  day, 


A    VICIOUS  BULL.  8 1 

to  put  a  clog  on  him ;  but  all  his  attempts  to  do  so  were 
vain.  He  called  on  a  neighbor  for  help,  and  they  tried  re- 
peatedly to  get  him  under  control  by  means  of  the  lasso. 
But  the  ox  dashed  wildly  around  the  lot  in  which  he  was 
confined,  and  defied  them.  Smith  kept  two  fierce  bear- 
dogs,  for  an  occasional  hunt  among  the  hills  near  by ;  he 
now  called  in  these  terrible  allies,  and  dogs  and  men  joined 
in  the  fruitless  onset.  The  inclosure  contained  about  four 
acres  of  ground ;  through  this  ran  a  small  stream,  across 
which  a  large  beech  tree  had  fallen.  In  attempting  to  leap 
this  stream,  the  ox  fell,  and  for  a  moment  was  caught  and 
held  fast  by  the  prostrate  branches.  Smith,  who  had  already 
lost  his  patience,  determined  to  win  the  day  by  a  coup-de- 
wain.  Leaping  forward,  he  seized  his  victim  by  the  nose 
with  a  powerful  grasp.  The  indignant  animal  no  sooner 
felt  the  touch  of  a  human  hand,  than,  with  one  mad  bound, 
he  cleared  the  tree,  and  rushed,  with  bellowing  rage,  upon 
him.  Smith  fled  across  the  lot,  but  the  ox  kept  him  be- 
tween his  wide-spreading  horns,  and  actually  pushed  him 
as  he  ran. 

Though  but  a  moment,  yet  within  that  brief  interval, 
Smith  thought,  as  he  was  carried  along  between  the  horns 
of  his  ox,  "  If  the  Lord  should  be  with  me  in  this  extremity, 
and  deliver  me  out  of  this  trouble,  I  will  know  assuredly 
that  he  wants  me  to  preach,  and  I  will  no  longer  scruple  to 
be  ordained." 

Immediately  he  was  caught  by  his  clothing,  on  a  horn 
of  the  beast,  and  tossed  in  the  air.  On  rushed  the  impet- 
uous ox,  and  down  came  Smith  to  the  ground,  stunned  but 
otherwise  unhurt.  The  next  instant  he  was  on  his  feet, 
and  before  his  now  victorious  foe  could  turn  upon  him 
again,  he  was  over  the  fence,  and  safe  beyond  the  reach  of 
his  horns. 

On  the  subject  of  the  call  to  the  ministry,  the  Baptists 


82  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

of  that  day  were  by  no  means  universally  agreed.  Many 
looked  for  extraordinary  visions,  or  listened  for  miraculous 
voices,  while  some  few  believed  that  the  Lord  called  only 
through  the  Church.  "  If  a  Christian  has  talent,  and  the 
Church  says  'preach,'  he  may  go  on  safely,"  said  an  old 
minister,  who,  in  his  youth,  however,  had  waited  long  for 
some  supernatural  call,  without  receiving  it.  "  The  voice 
of  the  Church,"  said  he,  "  is  the  voice  of  God.  The  bride- 
groom is  away,  and  what  the  bride  does  in  his  absence  must 
certainly  be  valid."  Thus,  some  were  called  by  the  Spirit 
and  the  bride;  others,  by  the  bride  alone,  yet  all  were 
agreed  that  none  should  preach  the  Gospel  without  the 
authority  or  consent  of  the  Church,  whatever  might  be  his 
talents,  his  motives,  or  his  experience.  This  was  plainly 
set  forth  in  the  Philadelphia  Confession  of  Faith,  which 
declared,  that  the  "  way  appointed  by  Christ  for  the  calling 
of  any  person,  fitted  and  gifted  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  the 
office  of  bishop  or  elder  in  a  church,  is  that  he  be  chosen 
thereto  by  the  common  suffrage  of  the  church  itself;  and 
solemnly  set- apart  by  fasting  and  prayer,  with  imposition 
of  hands  of  the  eldership  of  the  Church." 

It  was,  accordingly,  the  custom  when  a  pastor  or  minister 
was  to  be  ordained,  to  come  together  with  fasting  and 
prayer,  and  to  give  in  their  suffrages  with  great  solemnity. 
The  eldership  examined  the  candidate,  respecting  his  faith 
and  his  call  to  the  ministry ;  and,  if  the  questions  asked 
were  satisfactorily  answered,  they  knelt  down  with  him, 
and,  laying  their  right  hand  on  his  head,  one  of  them 
offered  up  the  ordination  prayer.  After  this  ceremony, 
the  charge  was  usually  delivered,  and  the  congregation 
gave  him  the  hand  of  fellowship.  Generally,  the  ceremony 
of  ordination  was  solemn  and  imposing ;  and  the  examina- 
tion of  the  candidate,  conducted  in  the  presence  of  the  as- 
sembled church,  was  edifying  to  all.  But  the  examination 


BROTHER  LELAND  AND  THE  PRESBYTER.          83 

was  sometimes  a  mere  form,  if  not  a  farce,  the  questions 
asked  being  simple,  or  even  silly.  "My  brother,"  once  in- 
quired a  presbyter  of  a  young  candidate,  when  examining 
him  for  the  ministry  of  one  of  the  early  churches,  "did  you 
ever  know  a  sheep  to  turn  into  a  goat,  or  a  goat  to  turn 
into  a  sheep?"  After  a  long  pause,  the  candidate  could 
only  reply  that  he  did  not  recollect  of  having  ever  heard  of 
such  a  thing. 

The  doctrine  thus  enforced  was :  "  That  the  elect,  even 
before  conversion,  were  the  sheep  of  Christ,  and,  as  such, 
could  never  be  lost ;  that  once  a  sheep,  always  a  sheep." 

Not  only  was  the  notion  of  a  supernatural  call  to  the 
ministry  repudiated  by  the  bolder  thinkers  of  the  times, 
but  even  the  imposition  of  hands  in  ordination  was  re- 
garded by  some  of  them  as  an  idle  and  unauthorized 
ceremony. 

It  is  reported*  that  John  Leland,  one  of  the  most  popular 
preachers  of  his  day  in  Virginia,  and  one  of  the  most  ec- 
centric and  singularly  pious  of  men,  was  at  first  ordained  a 
minister  by  the  choice  of  the  church,  without  the  imposi- 
tion of  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery.  He  continued  for 
some  years  afterward  to  preach  and  to  baptize  on  the  au- 
thority of  his  simple  appointment,  much  to  the  disturbance 
of  the  peace  of  the  association  to  which  he  belonged.  In 
fact,  on  account  of  his  departure  from  the  usages  of  the 
churches  in  Virginia,  he  was  not  for  awhile  in  good  fel- 
lowship with  any.  Whether  right  or  wrong,  he  openly 
professed  to  believe  that  the  imposition  of  hands  by  the 
Apostles,  in  ancient  times,  was  only  to  confer  miraculous 
gifts ;  and  that,  consequently,  such  a  ceremony  in  the 
Church  now,  was  in  itself  worthless,  because  wholly  un- 
authorized. 


*  Elder  James  Sims,  of  Kentucky. 


84  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

His  brethren  urged  him  most  earnestly,  for  the  sake  of 
peace,  to  submit  to  ordination  by  the  hands  of  the  ministry ; 
and  finally,  to  gratify  them,  he  consented  that  they  might 
call  a  Presbytery  for  that  purpose.  Knowing  all  the  ques- 
tions which  they  would  ask  on  his  examination,  and  re- 
solved in  his  own  mind  on  the  answers  which  he  would 
give,  he  felt  confident  that  they  would  not  ordain  him. 

The  Presbytery,  consisting  of  three  staunch  Calvinists, 
was  called.  The  day  appointed  for  the  ordination  arrived, 
and  with  it  came  a  multitude  of  people  to  witness  the  cere- 
mony. The  work  was  divided  among  the  several  Presby- 
ters. One  was  to  ask  the  usual  questions  concerning  his 
faith  and  call;  another  was  to  offer  up  the  ordination 
prayer ;  and  another  was  to  deliver  the  charge  to  the  pastor 
and  the  church.  Leland  took  his  seat  long  before  they 
appeared,  and  resting  his  arms  on  his  knees,  and  burying 
his  face  in  his  hands,  awaited  their  movements. 

The  Presbyter  appointed  to  conduct  the  examination,  at 
length  began: 

"  Brother  Leland,  it  becomes  my  duty,  according  to  pre- 
vious arrangement,  to  ask  you  a  few  questions  upon  the 
subject  of  your  faith,  and  in  reference  to  your  call  to  the 
ministry." 

"  Well,  brother,"  said  Leland,  slowly  raising  his  head,  "  I 
will  tell  you  all  I  know,"  and  down  went  his  head  into  his 
hands  again. 

Presbyter.  "  Brother  Leland,  do  you  not  believe  that 
God  chose  his  people  in  Christ,  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world?" 

Leland  (looking  up}.  "  I  know  not,  brother,  what  God 
was  doing  before  he  began  to  make  this  world." 

Presbyter.  "  Brother  Leland,  but  do  you  not  believe 
that  God  had  a  people  from  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world?" 


BROTHER  LELAND  AND   THE  PRESBYTER.  85 

Leland.  "  If  he  had,  brother,  they  were  not  our  kind  of 
folks.  Our  people  were  made  out  of  dust,  you  know,  and 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world  there  was  no  dust  to 
make  them  of." 

Presbyter.  "  You  believe,  brother  Leland,  that  all  men 
are  totally  depraved  ? " 

Leland.  "  No,  brother ;  if  they  were,  they  could  not 
wax  worse  and  worse,  as  some  of  them  do.  The  devil  is 
no  more  than  totally  depraved." 

Presbyter.  "  Well,  there  are  other  questions  that  will 
embrace  all  these  in  substance.  I  will  ask,  whether  you 
do  not  believe  that  sinners  are  justified  by  the  righteous- 
ness of  Christ  imputed  unto  them  ? " 

Leland.  "Yes,  brother,  provided  they  will  do  right 
themselves;  but  I  know  of  no  righteousness  that  will 
justify  a  man  that  won't  do  right  himself." 

Presbyter.  "  Brother  Leland,  I  will  ask  you  one  more 
question:  Do  you  not  believe  that  all  the  saints  will  per- 
severe through  grace  to  glory,  and  get  home  to  heaven  at 
last?" 

Leland.  "  I  can  tell  you  more  about  that,  my  brother, 
when  I  get  there  myself.  Some  seem  to  make  a  very  bad 
start  of  it  here." 

The  Presbyter,  seeing  that  the  audience  was  greatly 
amused,  proposed  to  his  colleagues  that  they  should  retire 
for  a  few  moments,  and  consult  together.  After  returning, 
they  remarked  to  the  congregation,  that  brother  Leland 
had  not  answered  the  questions  as  satisfactorily  as  they 
could  wish,  but  they  all  knew  that  he  had  many  eccentrici- 
ties, for  which  they  should  make  every  allowance;  that 
they  had  concluded  accordingly  to  ask  him  a  few  questions 
touching  his  call  to  the  ministry. 

Presbyter.  "  Brother  Leland,  you  believe  that  God  has 
called  you  to  preach  the  Gospel  ? " 


86  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Leland.     "  I  never  heard  him,  brother." 

Presbyter.  "  We  do  not  suppose,  brother  Leland,  that 
you  ever  heard  an  audible  voice ;  but  you  know  what  we 
mean." 

Leland.  "  But  would  n't  it  be  a  queer  call,  brother,  if 
there  were  no  voice,  and  nothing  said  ? " 

Presbyter  (evidently  confused}.  "  Well,  well,  brother  Le- 
land, you  believe,  at  least,  that  it  is  your  duty  to  preach 
the  Gospel  to  every  creature  ? " 

Leland.  "  Ah !  no,  my  brother,  I  do  not  believe  it  to  be 
my  duty  to  preach  to  the  Dutch,  for  instance,  for  I  can't 
do  it.  When  the  Lord  sent  the  /Apostles  to  preach  to 
every  nation,  he  taught  them  to  talk  to  all  sorts  of  people ; 
but  he  has  never  learned  me  to  talk  Dutch  yet." 

Presbyter.  "  But,  brother  Leland,  you  feel  a  great  desire 
for  the  salvation  of  sinners,  do  you  not  ? " 

Leland.  "  Sometimes  I  think  I  do ;  and  then  again  I 
do  n't  care  if  the  devil  gets  the  whole  of  them." 

Upon  this  the  Presbytery  retired  again,  and,  having  re- 
turned, reported  as  before,  much  to  the  surprise  of  Leland, 
who  was  now  constrained  to  submit  to  ordination.  After 
they  had  ordained  him  in  due  form,  he  said  : 

"  Well,  brethren,  when  Peter  put  his  hands  on  people, 
and  took  them  off,  they  had  more  sense  than  they  had 
before ;  but  you  have  all  had  your  han,ds  on  my  head,  and, 
before  God,  I  am  just  as  big  a  fool  now,  as  I  was  before 
you  put  them  on." 


JOHN  SMITH  ORDAINED. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

Ordained  to  Preach  in  1808 — Baptizes  four  persons — Studies  the  Word  unremit- 
tingly— Preaches  every  Sunday — His  style  described — His  plea — the  Doctrine 
of  Election — Concern  of  his  friends  in  Stockton's  Valley — Their  doubts  set 
at  rest — Solution  of  the  problem  of  Election  by  Grace — The  Solution  accepted 
by  his  brethren — A  wife's  sacrifices — Goes  to  school  once  more,  but  quits  at 
the  end  of  the  second  week. 

JOHN  SMITH,  reflecting  on  his  recent  experience,  and 
feeling  that  he  ought  to  defer  as  much  as  he  could  to  the 
judgment  of  his  brethren,  consented  at  last  to  be  ordained, 
and  he  was,  accordingly,  set  apart  in  due  form  to  the  work 
of  the  ministry,  on  the  third  Saturday  in  May,  1808,  by 
Richard  Barrier  and  I  sham  Burnet,  Presbyters  of  the 
Stockton's  Valley  Association.  The  Presbytery  remarked, 
at  the  time,  that  they  were  so  well  assured  of  his  ortho- 
doxy, and  of  his  ability  to  preach,  that  it  was  necessary 
to  ask  but  a  very  few  questions. 

"  We  suppose,  brother  Smith,"  said  they,  "  that  you  are 
well  acquainted  with  the  Philadelphia  Confession  of  Faith  ?" 

"  I  am  well  acquainted  with  it,  brethren,"  replied  the 
candidate. 

"  Do  you  adopt  the  Articles  therein  set  forth?" 

"  I  do." 

Upon  this,  they  all  knelt ;  Isham  Burnet  having  prayed, 
they  all  laid  their  hands  on  his  head,  and  then  declared 
him  legally  authorized  to  administer  the  Lord's  Supper, 


88  LI'FE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Baptism,  and  other  ordinances,  and,  also,  to  preach  the 
Gospel.  The  congregation  then  arose  and  went  to  the 
stream  close  by,  where  the  newly  ordained  minister  forth- 
with immersed  four  persons  who  had  previously  given  in 
their  experience,  and  were  waiting  only  till  the  young 
licentiate  received  authority  to  baptize  them. 

His  zeal  now  was  unrestrained.  He  spent  every  mo- 
ment that  he  could  spare  in  the  close  and  earnest  study 
of  his  Bible,  and  the  doctrines  of  his  Church,  as  they  were 
set  forth  in  the  Confession  of  Faith.  The  pine-knots 
blazed  on  his  hearth  till  a  late  hour  every  night;  for  he 
pored  over  the  sacred  text  with  a  diligence  that  never 
tired.  He  saved  the  hour  of  noon,  by  reading  while  his 
tired  yoke  browsed  in  the  shade  or  stood  at  the  rick.  He 
laid  the  open  Bible  by  his  side  on  the  dinner-table,  and 
committed  to  memory,  over  his  plate,  some  verse  on  which 
he  could  ponder  while  at  work.  For  he  studied  even  in 
the  fields,  improvising  sermons  as  he  piled  up  his  log 
heaps,  and  exhorting  imaginary  congregations  as  he 
plowed  along. 

He  preached  every  Sunday,  often  riding  many  miles  on 
Saturday,  in  order  to  reach  the  appointed  place  in  time. 
He  gathered  the  people  together  wherever  he  could — in 
their  scattered  meeting-houses,  in  their  own  log  cabins, 
in  their  still  humbler  school-houses,  or  in  the  dark  un- 
broken woods. 

His  voice  was  deep,  rich,  and  heavy ;  his  utterance  de- 
liberate and  distinct.  His  cant  was  finely  modulated  ; 
for  he  loved  melody,  and  the  taste  of  the  times  demanded 
that  the  sermon  should  be  rendered  in  solemn,  chant-like 
tones.  When  he  stood  up  broad-chested,  in  the  forest  on 
on  some  rude  platform,  or  the  trunk  of  some  fallen  tree, 
and  spoke  to  the  multitudes  around  him,  his  deep-toned, 
ponderous  words  rolled  along  the  hollows,  until  the  dwell- 


EIS  ZEAL  FOR  DOCTRINES.  89 

ers  among  the  hills  of  the  Cumberland  have  declared  that 
they  could  sit  at  their  cabin  doors  and  hear  him  two  miles 
off.  Such  a  voice,  then,  had  all  the  effect  of  eloquence 
itself;  in  the  popular  regard,  it  was  a  greater  gift  than 
learning,  and  awed  like  inspiration. 

There  were  some  Methodists  in  the  neighborhood,  with 
whom  he  had  frequent  conversations  on  the  subject  of  re- 
ligion. The  several  points  of  Calvinism  and  of  Armin- 
ianism  were  repeatedly  discussed.  The  texts  that  were 
supposed  to  bear  on  the  question  of  Election,  whether 
found  in  Jewish  or  Christian  Scriptures,  were  examined 
again  and  again,  until  a  zeal  for  doctrines,  if  not  for  party, 
almost  consumed  him. 

He  preached:  "That  all  men,  without  exception,  are 
dead  in  sin,  and  can  of  themselves  do  nothing  to  please 
God ;  that  they  are  wholly  defiled  in  all  their  faculties  of 
soul  and  body  ;  that,  not  only  is  Adam's  guilt  imputed  to 
all,  but  his  corrupt  nature  is  conveyed  to  all ;  that  conse- 
quently all  are  utterly  indisposed,  disabled,  and  made  op- 
posite to  all  good,  and  wholly  inclined  to  all  evil  : 

"  That,  nevertheless  by  God's  decree,  a  definite  number 
of  individuals  are  predestinated  or  fore-ordained  to  eternal 
life,  whom  God  chose  and  appointed  personally  and  partic- 
ularly to  glory  before  the  foundation  of  the  world  was  laid, 
without  any  reference  to  their  conduct  or  character. 

"  That  these  elect  persons  being  morally  and  spiritually 
dead,  and  incapable  of  doing  any  thing  good,  are,  in  due 
time,  called,  and  effectually  and  irresistibly  drawn  to  Christ, 
without  any  agency  of  their  own,  as  if  co-operating  with 
the  Spirit,  but  are  wholly  passive  ;  for  which  elect  persons 
only  did  Christ  die. 

"  That  those  who  are  thus  elected,  called,  and  made 
alive,  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  are  enabled,  by  the  same  divine 
influence,  to  do  many  things  that  are  good  and  right :  that 
8 


9O  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

they  can  repent  and  believe  in  Christ,  and  understand  and 
obey  the  Scriptures  ;  but  these  good  works  of  the  renewed 
man  are  not  in  any  sense  the  grounds  of  his  justification 
or  acceptance  with  God. 

"  For  God  decreed  from  all  eternity  to  justify  the  elect, 
although  they  are  not  personally  justified  until  the  Holy 
Spirit,  in  due  time,  actually  applies  Christ  to  them  ;  that 
Christ's  own  obedience  to  the  law,  is  imputed  to  them  as 
their  whole  and  sole  righteousness  through  faith,  which  is 
the  work  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  gift  of  God. 

"  That  all  who  are  thus  justified  can  never  fall  from 
grace  ;  but  will  certainly  persevere  to  the  end,  and  be  saved. 

"  That  all  other  persons,  whether  men,  women  or  chil- 
dren, are  reprobate — the  Holy  Spirit  giving  them  neither 
the  disposition  nor  the  ability  to  do  good.  They  can  not 
come  to  Christ,  nor  did  Christ  die  for  them  ;  and,  there- 
fore, they  must  perish  in  their  sins. 

"  Finally,  that  elect  infants,  dying  in  infancy,  will  be  re- 
generated and  cleansed  from  Adam's  sin  and  Adam's  guilt 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  saved — while  non-elect  infants 
will  be  left  to  perish  in  their  corruption  entailed  upon 
them,  and  in  the  guilt  imputed  to  them." 

This  last  doctrine  he  did  not,  it  is  true,  love  to  preach  ; 
but  neither  did  he,  at  that  time,  venture  to  call  it  in 
question. 

In  the  meantime,  when  his  friends  in  Stockton's  Valley 
heard  that  he  was  preaching,  they  were  much  concerned, 
fearing,  in  their  great  affection  for  him,  that  his  zeal  or 
his  gifts  might  have  led  him  into  indiscretion.  They 
talked  the  matter  over  at  the  fireside,  and  at  the  social 
meetings,  until  finally  it  was  arranged  by  the  brethren  at 
Clear  Fork,  that  Philip  Smith,  his  eldest  brother,  should 
go  on  a  mission  to  Wayne,  to  hear  him  preach,  and  to  make 
inquiries  concerning  his  call. 


ELECTION  BY  GRACE.  9! 

Philip  returned,  with  the  gratifying  announcement  that 
the  Lord  was  surely  with  John,  and  that  his  brethren  might 
safely  let  him  preach  on. 

And  he  did  preach  on,  without  hinderance  or  rebuke, 
growing  daily  in  favor  with  the  brethren  among  whom  he 
labored.  To  those  who  had  preceded  him  in  the  ministry, 
and  whom  he  now  often  met,  he  was  modestly  deferential 
and  attentive.  He  was  glad  to  sit  at  their  feet  and  learn, 
while  they  talked  together  of  the  deep  things  of  the  Spirit 
of  God — for  there  were  always  grave  points  of  law  and 
doctrine  that  were  discussed  by  the  preachers  only  among 
themselves — a  kind  of  esoteric  theology,  too  profound  for 
the  people,  or  too  much  controverted  to  be  brought  before 
the  congregation.  Ambitious  to  learn  whatever  they 
could  teach,  and  anxious  to  equip  himself  for  successful 
conflict  with  his  Arminian  neighbors,  who  waxed  bolder 
and  stronger  every  day,  he  let  pass  no  opportunity  of  at- 
tending the  conferences  of  his  older  brethren — always  lis- 
tening with  interest  to  their  conversations,  and  pondering 
well,  in  his  own  mind,  every  opinion  that  they  advanced. 

One  of  the  problems  which  he  heard  most  frequently 
and  earnestly  discussed,  and  which  baffled  all  the  efforts 
of  the  older  ministers  to  solve,  was  the  reconciliation  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  eternal  justification  of  the  elect,  with 
the  fact  of  their  actual  condemnation  as  testified  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  at  the  time  of  their  conversion.  The  experi- 
ence of  all  truly  converted  men  was,  in  this  respect,  the 
same.  They  were  made  to  feel,  not  only  that  they  de- 
served condemnation,  but  were  already  condemned.  How, 
then,  could  this  experience  be  reconciled  with  the  fact 
that  these  same  persons  were  not  only  justified  at  the 
time  of  their  conviction,  but  had  been  justified  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world  ?  He  had  seen  those  godly  old 
Calvinists,  Isaac  Denton,  Richard  Barrier,  and  Isham 


92  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Burnet,  grow  thoughtful  and  solemn,  when  this  deep  ques- 
tion came  up  for  discussion;  and  he  often  vexed  his 
younger  brain  in  fruitless  efforts  to  explain  it. 

Finally,  as  he  was  working  in  his  cornfield,  one  day, 
he  reflected  that  there  were  two  distinct  covenants ;  one 
of  works,  which  concerned  all  men,  so  that,  if  any  kept 
not  the  whole  law,  he  died  without  mercy  ;  the  other  of 
grace,  which  concerned  the  elect  only,  so  that  all  whom 
God  had  chosen  in  Christ,  would  be  saved  unconditionally 
from  death.  He  concluded  that  the  elect  stood  related  to 
both  covenants,  condemned  by  the  first,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  justified  by  the  second  ;  while  the  non-elect  were 
related  to  the  first  only,  and  by  it  eternally  condemned ; 
that,  when  the  Holy  Spirit  in  conversion  comes  to  the 
elect,  they  are  made  to  know,  first  their  condition  as  sin- 
ners, under  the  covenant  of  works,  and  afterward,  are  sur- 
prised by  the  discovery  of  the  fact,  which  the  same  Spirit 
makes  known  to  them,  that  they  are  related  to  the  cove- 
nant of  grace  also,  by  virtue  of  which  they  had  always  been 
justified  ;  so  that  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  fact,  makes  two  suc- 
cessive, and  not  two  contradictory,  revelations  to  the  sin- 
ner ;  and  consequently,  every  genuine  experience  was 
in  strict  accordance  with  the  received  doctrine  of  redemp- 
tion. 

His  solution  of  the  difficulty  was  accepted  by  his  breth- 
ren as  a  revelation  from  heaven !  The  very  Presbyters 
that  ordained  him,  when  they  heard  the  ingenious  discourse 
that  thus  vindicated  the  Holy  Spirit  from  all  self-contra- 
diction, and  reconciled  their  faith  and  experience,  believed 
that  he  was  no  less  inspired  for  the  work  which  he  had 
done,  than  was  Peter  on  Pentecost,  or  Paul  before  Agrippa. 
His  reputation  was  made;  his  fame  went  abroad  through 
all  that  land,  and  his  praise  was  in  all  the  churches. 

During  the  following  months,  he  visited  the  congrega- 


EAGER  FOR  A  GOOD  EDUCATION.  93 

tions  within  the  bounds  of  the  Association  to  which  he 
belonged,  and  was  received  with  every  mark  of  respect. 
His  well-toned  voice  and  earnest  manner,  his  fine  com- 
mon sense  and  unaffected  piety,  rendered  him  pre-emi- 
nently popular  as  a  speaker ;  his  genial  humor,  too,  threw 
its  sunny  influence  on  all  around  him,  and  made  him  the 
delight  of  every  fireside. 

As  his  fame  and  influence  extended,  he  felt  more  deeply 
his  imperfections,  especially  his  want  of  learning.  He 
made  no  attempt  to  disguise  his  ignorance.  He  was  hon- 
est with  himself  and  with  others.  He  could  pretend  to 
.nothing — he  could  affect  nothing.  His  ambition  aimed 
at  excellence,  and  not  at  appearance ;  it  was  not  a  desire 
simply  to  appear  great  in  the  eyes  of  men,  but  an  aspira- 
tion to  become  great  in  the  sight  of  God.  Zeal  for  the 
Church  burned  on  ;  but  his  singular  passion  for  what  he 
called  an  education  could  not  be  controlled. 

A  good  school  had  just  been  opened  in  the  village  of 
Monticello,  by  Rhodes  Garth,  and  he  was  soon  restless 
with  the  thought  that  he  ought  not  to  let  pass  so  fine  an 
opportunity  to  learn.  True,  he  lived  nearly  fourteen  miles 
from  the  town,  he  was  encumbered  with  the  care  of  a  farm, 
a  family,  and  a  congregation ;  he  was  twenty-five  years  of 
age,  and  already  better  educated  than  his  neighbors ;  but 
these  considerations  seemed  to  him  paltry,  when  urged 
against  another  attempt  to  get  a  better  education.  His 
wife,  knowing  his  eagerness  to  increase  his  little  stock  of 
learning,  did  not  object  to  his  going  to  school,  although  it 
would  take  him  from  home,  and  the  care  of  the  farm  would 
devolve  on  her.  The  lonesome  days  and  nights,  too,  she 
thought,  would  drag  heavily  on  while  he  was  away ;  for 
there  would  be  none  to  assist  her — no  living  soul  to  stay 
with  her,  and  keep  her  company  in  those  dark  and  rugged 
woods,  save  the  baby  boy  that  now  rolled  on  her  cabin 


94  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JO  UN  SMITH. 

floor  ;  little  Eli,  she  felt,  would  help  to  lift  off  the  solitude 
from  his  mother's  heart. 

Micah  Taul,  also,  (a  lawyer  of  Monticello,)  urged  him  to 
go  to  school  again,  and  pressed  him  to  come  and  live  dur- 
ing the  time  at  his  house.  Thus  encouraged,  he  arranged 
his  affairs  at  home  as  well  as  he  could,  and  on  Monday, 
walked  to  Monticello.  His  purpose  was  to  return  home 
every  Saturday,  preach  to  his  neighbors  on  Sunday,  and 
walk  back  to  school  on  Monday,  in  time  for  the  lessons  of 
the  day.  His  course  of  study  embraced  the  Scriptures, 
Arithmetic,  Roman  History,  Orthography,  and  Pronuncia- 
tion. This  last  branch  of  learning  he  deemed  of  special 
importance.  He  had  observed  that  his  educated  brethren 
from  the  Northern  Associations,  whom  he  occasionally  met 
as  messengers,  pronounced  many  words  in  a  manner  dif- 
ferent from  his  own,  and  he  judged  that  their  style  must 
be  right.  This  led  him  to  pay  much  attention  to  Ortho- 
epy ;  for,  as  a  public  speaker,  he  did  not  wish  to  be  guilty 
of  a  backwoods'  brogue,  should  Providence  ever  call  him 
to  stand  before  an  educated  audience.  His  efforts  to  im- 
prove in  this  respect,  gave  him  a  precise  and  distinctly 
syllabic  utterance.  Careful  of  every  element  of  sound,  he 
spoke  his  words  as  if  each  letter  had  a  meaning.  He  was 
particular  about  his  accent  also,  and  always  marked  the 
chosen  syllable,  whether  right  or  wrong,  with  a  weight  ot 
voice  that  never  failed  to  give  it  prominence. 

His  first  week  at  the  academy  passed  by  pleasantly  and 
profitably  enough.  Saturday  found  him  at  home  again, 
busy  on  his  farm.  His  wife  had  done  what  she  could,  but 
he  saw  that,  though  she  did  not  complain,  yet  in  his  eager- 
ness for  learning,  he  had  incumbered  her  with  cares  that 
neither  had  anticipated. 

On  Monday,  as  he  walked  back  to  school,  he  was 
troubled  in  heart ;  for  the  love  of  the  husband  struggled 


QUITS  SCHOOL  FOREVER.  95 

with  the  ambition  of  the  student ;  and,  before  he  reached 
Monticello,  he  felt  that  he  ought  not  to  ask  his  wife  to 
make  such  sacrifices  for  him  any  longer. 

He  remained  at  school  that  week,  and  then  walked 
back  to  his  cabin  in  the  hills.  The  care-worn  face  of  his 
wife  confirmed  him  in  his  resolution,  and  he  quit  his 
school  at  once,  never  to  become  a  pupil  again. 


96  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Again  meets  with  Jeremiah  Vardeman — Teaches  his  Children — Visits  the  Blue 
-•  Grass  Region — Public  Lands  of  Alabama — Resolves  to  Purchase  Land,  and 
Remove  to  Alabama — Musings  by  the  Wayside — Worldly  Visions — Terrible 
Calamity — Two  of  his  Children  Burned  in  each  other's  arms — Reduced  to 
Poverty — Depressing  Gloom — Theological  Doubts  as  to  the  Destiny  of  his 
Lost  Children — Mrs.  Smith  Dies — He  is  taken  down  with  the  Cold  Plague — 
Long  Illness — Recovery — Sets  out  on  his  Return  from  Kentucky. 

IN  the  summer  of  1810,  at  the  Cumberland  River  Asso- 
ciation, he  again  met  with  Jeremiah  Vardeman,  then  one 
of  the  most  influential  ministers  in  Kentucky.  Vardeman 
had  heard  of  the  young  preacher  that  lived  down  among 
the  hills  of  the  little  South  Fork,  and  when  he  saw  him  at 
the  Association,  he  grasped  his  hand  affectionately,  and 
took  him  to  his  heart  as  a  brother.  He  saw  that  his  talents 
and  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  fitted  him  for  a  position 
of  greater  usefulness  in  the  Church ;  and  he  expressed  a 
wish  to  see  him  at  work  in  a  wider  field  of  labor. 

Smith  had  already  become  dissatisfied  with  the  place 
where  he  lived.  He  felt  that,  if  he  would  grow  in  knowl- 
edge, or  in  strength,  he  must  seek  a  home  among  a  more 
intelligent  and  enterprising  people.  With  the  pride  of  a 
young  father,  he  had  determined,  moreover,  never  to  bring 
up  his  children  in  the  rough  wilds  of  "  The  Hollow." 

He  listened,  therefore,  with  much  interest  to  Vardeman's 
description  of  men  and  things  in  Northern  Kentucky,  and 
he  felt  the  full  force  of  the  argument,  that  he  owed  it  to 


VISITS  BLUE  GRASS  REGION.  97 

himself,  to  his  family,  and  to  the  Church,  to  get  away  from 
his  country,  and,  if  needs  be,  from  his  kindred,  and  to  go 
up  to  a  land  which  God  seemed  to  have  blessed  above  all 
other  portions  of  the  State.  "  A  man's  gifts,"  said  Varde- 
man  to  him,  when  he  complained  of  his  want  of  education, 
"a  man's  gifts  will  make  room  for  him,  and  bring  him  into 
the  presence  of  great  men." 

For  awhile  he  toiled  on  in  his  fields,  spending  what 
time  he  could  in  preaching  to  his  neighbors,  and  in  teach- 
ing his  children ;  for  he  made  haste  to  save  these  from  the 
ignorance  that  had  darkened  his  own  childhood.  Eli,  his 
eldest,  was  in  his  seventh  year,  and  Elvira  was  two  years 
younger;  they  were  healthful  and  sprightly  children,  on 
whom  he  lavished  an  almost  idolatrous  affection. 

At  length  he  arranged  his  business  for  a  few  weeks' 
absence,  and  accepted  an  invitation  to  visit  the  churches 
in  what  was,  even  then,  called  the  Blue  Grass  Region  of 
Kentucky.  On  this  tour,  he  preached  with  much  accept- 
ance. His  own  mind  was  lifted  up,  and  his  heart  was 
enlarged.  He  was  pleased  with  all  he  saw,  and  but  for  a 
delicate  sort  of  pride,  he  would  have  accepted  a  call  from 
some  wealthy  churches,  and  have  gone  to  live  among  them 
as  a  salaried  minister.  But  a  consciousness  of  his  inferior- 
ity in  learning,  as  well  as  in  social  culture,  his  poverty,  and 
especially  the  thought  of  living  on  what  he  regarded  as  the 
charity  of  his  brethren,  caused  him  to  decline  the  proposi- 
tion, and  to  form  another  plan  for  advancing  the  welfare  of 
his  family. 

He  returned  home,  resolved  to  seek  some  better  country 
elsewhere.  The  war  with  England  was  going  on,  and 
embargoes  paralyzed  the  commerce  of  the  country.  The 
public  lands  in  Alabama  were  about  to  be  thrown  into 
market,  and  the  terms  would  be  liberal.  The  most  splendid 
opportunity  for  speculation  was  presented.  Choice  lands 

9 


98  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

would  be  patented  at  $1.25  per  acre,  and  only  ten  dollars 
for  every  hundred  acres  would  be  required  on  entry ;  the 
remainder  would  be  payable  in  four  years  thereafter.  Dur- 
ing the  eight  or  nine  years  that  he  had  lived  on  the  Little 
South  Fdrk,  he  had  converted  much  of  the  forest  into 
arable ;  he  had  built  a  hewed  log-house  for  his  family,  put 
up  a  good  barn,  and  collected  some  little  stock  together. 
By  the  sale  of  his  farm  and  surplus  stock,  he  could  realize, 
he  thought,  about  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  With  this  amount 
he  could  remove  his  family  to  Huntsville,  at  that  time  a 
village  of  but  few  houses,  erect  a  temporary  cabin,  and 
supply  the  immediate  wants  of  his  family,  and  still  have 
one  thousand  dollars  left  with  which  to  enter  ten  thousand 
acres  of  land.  The  war,  he  reasoned,  must  soon  be  over, 
the  embargo  would  be  removed,  and  peace  re-established 
on  a  solid  basis.  Before  the  long  term  of  payment  expired, 
emigration  would  flow  to  the  South,  and  the  general  pros- 
perity of  the  country  would  rapidly  raise  the  price  of  his 
land;  so  that,  by  the  sale  of  but  a  small  portion  of  his 
estate,  he  would  be  able  to  pay  up  his  installments  to  the 
Government,  and  still  have  enough  to  place  him  among 
the  affluent  men  of  the  country.  His  scheme  embraced 
the  purchase  and  employment  of  many  slaves,  and  the  cul- 
tivation of  many  fields  of  cotton.  His  dreams  were  gilded 
by  recollections  of  the  wealth  on  which  he  had  gazed  while 
in  the  Blue  Grass  districts  of  Kentucky. 

He  revolved  this  scheme  in  his  mind,  again  and  again, 
during  the  summer  of  1814,  till,  grown  restless  under  the 
influence  of  his  dream,  he  went  to  look  at  the  country, 
and  to  confirm,  by  observation,  the  wisdom  of  his  plan. 
Subsequent  events  fully  verified  his  predictions.  Others 
were  made  rich ;  for  within  two  years,  some  of  that  land 
was  sold  at  fifty  dollars  per  acre.  But  God  had  better 
things  in  store  for  him.  In  the  very  hour,  almost,  when  he 


ACCEPTS  A   REQUEST   TO  PREACH.  99 

thought  to  put  his  well-laid  scheme  into  execution,  He  who 
had  called  him  to  preach  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ, 
stretched  forth  his  hand  and  blighted  all  his  earthly  hopes. 

He  returned  from  Alabama,  elated  at  the  prospect  that 
suddenly  opened  up  before  him ;  and  he  immediately  made 
preparations  to  remove.  He  sold  his  farm,  and  some  other 
property,  for  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  Such  goods  and 
chattels  as  he  reserved,  were  thrown  into  his  farm  wagon, 
where  his  four  children  were  stowed  for  the  journey,  and 
where  the  mother  also,  when  weary  of  walking,  found  rest 
on  the  way.  A  young  lad,  the  brother  of  his  wife,  went 
with  them,  and  drove  such  stock  as  they  thought  best  to 
take  along. 

He  reached  his  destination  in  the  Hickory  Flats,  near 
Huntsville,  on  the  2d  of  November,  1814.  He  was  fortu- 
nate enough  to  find  an  unoccupied  cabin,  which  he  rented 
till  he  could  build  on  his  own  land.  As  soon  as  his  family 
were  made  comfortable  in  their  new  home,  he  mounted  his 
horse,  and  began  a  survey  of  the  country  around,  with  a 
view  to  select,  for  entry,  some  of  the  best  sections  of  the 
public  domain.  A  few  Baptists  had  already  moved  into 
the  country,  some  of  whom  were  his  father's  old  friends, 
from  East  Tennessee ;  but  they  lived  some  fifteen  or  twenty 
miles  distant.  They  heard,  however,  that  a  son  of  George 
Smith  had  come  into  the  State,  and  that  he  was  a  preacher 
of  their  own  faith  and  order.  They  sent  him  a  request, 
therefore,  to  come  and  see  them,  and  to  preach  to  them, 
expressing,  at  the  same  time,  the  tenderest  regard  for  the 
memory  of  his  father.  Anxious  to  know  those  who  already 
loved  him  for  his  father's  sake,  he  accepted  their  invitation, 
and  left  home,  commending  with  strong  faith  his  family  to 
God,  who  had  so  often  cared  for  them  while  he  was  away. 

It  was  Saturday,  the  7th  of  January,  1815.  A  bright 
but  cold  sky  was  over  him,  and  a  charming  country,  beauti- 


IOO  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

ful  even  in  that  season  of  the  year,  lay  every-where  around 
him.  As  he  rode  along,  his  mind  was  busy  with  those 
worldly  visions  which  had  of  late  so  often  haunted  him. 

"  Thousands  of  these  fertile  acres  are  mine,"  thought  he ; 
for  he  passed  through  some  of  the  very  sections  which  he 
proposed  to  purchase.  "A  few  years  hence,  a  mansion 
will  rise  for  me  here,  and  gardens  will  smile  for  me  yonder 
in  those  woods;  farther  than  the  eye  can  reach,  my  broad 
fields  will  whiten  with  the  wealth  of  the  South,  and  troops 
of  dusky  slaves  shall  gather  it  and  lay  it  at  my  feet.  The 
sweat  of  labor  shall  soil  my  face  no  more ;  Eli  shall  never 
experience  the  hardships  of  his  father,  nor  little  Elvira  feel 
the  privations  of  her  mother.  But,  as  all  these  things  at 
last  will  belong  to  the  Lord,  I  must  be  his  faithful  steward. 
I  will  try  to  do  as  my  good  old  father  did  before  me ;  none 
shall  suffer  from  want  around  me;  for  I  will  make  the 
widow's  and  the  orphan's  heart  to  sing  for  joy" — and  the 
soul  of  John  Smith  dilated  with  the  vision  of  the  hour. 

He  reached  his  destination  in  the  evening,  and  was  re- 
ceived by  his  father's  friends  as  a  son.  Little  incidents  of 
family  history,  the  progress  of  events,  the  prospects  of  the 
country,  and  especially  of  the  Church,  were  all  talked  over 
at  the  fireside  till  a  late  hour  at  night,  and  he  retired  to 
rest  with  a  heart  full  of  pleasant  memories  and  still  more 
pleasant  hopes. 

In  the  meantime,  his  wife  at  home  had  been  called,  at 
evening,  to  the  bedside  of  a  sick  neighbor  that  lived  close 
by.  They  had  sent  to  beg  that  she  should  come  and  cheer 
the  dying  woman  with  her  songs ;  for  Mrs.  Smith  had  a 
sweet  voice,  and  sang,  with  pathos,  all  the  melodies  of  the 
Church.  Prompt  at  the  call,  she  had  taken  her  infant  in 
her  arms,  and  gone  at  twilight  on  her  mission  of  love.  She 
had  left  her  cabin  and  the  three  older  children  in  the  care 
of  her  brother,  and  of  a  younger  sister,  who  also  was  with 


A  TERRIBLE  CALAMITY.  IOI 

them.  They  had  all  gone  to  bed  early ;  for  they  were  tired 
of  the  toil,  or  of  the  sports  of  the  day.  About  ten  o'clock, 
while  the  mother  was  trying  to  soothe  her  afflicted  neighbor 
with  her  songs,  screams  of  anguish  reached  her  ears,  and 
the  blaze  of  her  burning  house  suddenly  lighted  up  the 
woods.  She  seized  her  babe  and  rushed  to  the  spot,  for 
the  distance  was  not  great  The  house,  which  was  built 
of  light  poplar  logs,  was  already  wrapt  in  fire.  Without, 
in  the  glare  of  the  flames,  stood  her  brother,  holding  one 
little,  trembling  child  by  the  hand. 

"Hiram!  are  they  all  safe?  where  are  the  others?"  she 
cried.  But  he  was  dumb  with  terror;  yet  she  saw,  with 
the  quick  eye  of  love,  the  fate  of  her  absent  children. 

"Eli!  Elvira!"  she  screamed,  with  an  agony  that  rent 
her  heart,  and  she  rushed  to  the  blazing  door.  The  grasp 
of  a  neighbor  just  saved  her  from  leaping  with  her  babe 
into  the  flames  that  were  consuming  her  home,  her  hus- 
band's wealth,  and  the  first-born  children  of  their  love. 
Brother  and  sister  perished  there  that  night  together,  in 
the  very  bed  where,  at  twilight,  they  had  fallen  asleep  in 
each  other's  arras,  with  a  mother's  good-night  tkiss  upon 
their  lips. 

The  fire  had,  by  some  means,  first  caught  among  the 
rafters  of  the  building.  Burning  splinters,  dropping  from 
above,  had  blistered  the  face  of  Hiram  Townsend,  and 
awakened  him,  but  too  late  to  save  the  children.  He 
hardly  escaped  with  his  life.  His  sister,  also  aroused  by 
the  dropping  fire,  had  rushed  through  the  flames,  dragging 
with  her  the  little  girl,  with  whom  she  had  been  sleeping. 
Nothing,  of  course,  had  been  saved.  All  the  clothing  of 
the  family,  their  little  furniture,  and  every  dollar  of  their 
money,  was  gone.  ~ 

The  heart-broken  mother  refused  to  be  comforted.  She 
sat  tearless  and  speechless  by  the  ashes  of  her  home,  and 


IO2  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

of  her  children,  through  the  long,  dreary  night  Two  mes- 
sengers had  started  of?  at  midnight,  to  carry  the  word  to 
her  husband. 

"  Mr.  Smith,"  said  they,  as  they  stood  before  the  door 
of  the  house,  next  morning  at  dawn,  "we  are  sorry  to  bring 
you  bad  news  from  home.  Your  house  took  fire  last  night, 
and  every  thing  is  lost.  Two  of  the  children  were  burned 
to  death ! " 

"  O  God !"  cried  the  stricken  father,  and  his  head  dropped 
upon  his  breast. 

"Which  of  my  children?"  at  length  gasped  the  poor 
man.  "  Was  it  Eli  ?  Was  it  my  boy  ?  And  did  Anna 
have  to  stand  and  see  it  all  ?  O  my  God !  my  God ! "  and 
he  sank  down  upon  the  steps,  and  buried  his  face  in  his 
hands. 

They  brought  him  his  horse,  and  he  hastily  set  out  for 
his  home,  to  weep  his  yet  unfallen  tears  into  the  bosom  of 
his  wife.  He  passed  by  the  spot  where  but  yesterday  fancy 
had  reared  him  a  mansion,  and  laid  out  for  him  her  beau- 
tiful gardens — by  the  place  where,  in  his  dream,  the  cotton 
had  boiled,  and  slaves  had  toiled  for  him.  Now,  every 
prospect  pained  and  rebuked  him ;  for  he  saw  in  the 
very  landscape  and  sky,  in  forest  and  stream,  nothing 
but  the  ruin  of  all  his  hopes,  and  the  gloom  of  his  own 
distress. 

The  brave,  but  wretched  man,  endeavored  to  strengthen 
himself  for  the  scene  that  awaited  him.  He  tried  to  bor- 
row support  from  religion,  and  to  find,  in  the  promises  of 
Scripture,  some  solace  for  his  wife.  But  the  thought  that, 
perhaps,  his  children  had  passed  through  the  flames  of 
their  burning  home  only  to  writhe  forever  in  the  still 
fiercer  flames  of  another  world,  sent  a  keen  agony  through 
his  soul ;  he  trembled  with  fear,  and  for  awhile  he  could 
hardly  move  on  in  his  journey. 


A  MOURNFUL  SIGHT.  1 03 

"I  can  give  her  no  consolation !"  thought  he.  "If  I  tell 
her  that  our  babies  are  glorified,  the  thought  that  possibly 
they  were  of  the  non-elect  will  only  aggravate  her  woe." 
His  own  faith  was  bewildered  by  this  thought,  which 
haunted  him  like  an  evil  specter  as  he  rode  along.  He 
tried  to  persuade  himself  that  non-elect  persons  do  not  die 
in  infancy ;  but  his  mind  would  not  accept  the  subterfuge. 
He  dreaded,  therefore,  to  meet  his  wife's  look  of  anguish, 
and  to  hear  her  ask  the  question,  "  Are  our  children  among 
the  elect  of  God?"  For  the  time  being,  every  other 
grief  was  lost  in  this  ;  and  in  the  confusion  of  his  mind, 
his  faith  in  that  harsh  doctrine  of  his  Church  yielded  up 
its  strength  forever. 

At  length,  he  came  in  view  of  the  spot,  and  his  eye  took 
in  the  whole  scene  at  a  glance.  Standing  amid  the  ashes 
of  the  cabin,  in  the  very  place  where  Eli's  little  bed  had 
stood,  two  of  his  neighbors  were  holding  by  the  corners  a 
pocket-handkerchief,  into  which  another  was  putting  the 
gathered  bones  of  his  children.  They  saw  him  approach- 
ing ;  but  they  kept  on  at  their  work  in  silence.  Other 
sympathizing  neighbors  stood  around,  some  looking  mourn- 
fully into  the  ashes,  and  some  glancing  through  their  tears 
at  the  wife  and  mother,  who  was  sitting  on  a  log  near  by. 
Some  one  had  thrown  a  blanket  around  her ;  for  the  air 
was  chill.  One  of  her  little  children  slept  on  her  breast — 
the  other  sobbed  at  her  side  in  all  the  bitterness  of  child* 
ish  woe.  He  dismounted  from  his  horse,  and  went  to  the 
place  where  she  was  sitting.  He  did  not  speak  a  word, 
but  with  all  the  gentleness  of  a  subdued  sorrow,  he  lifted 
his  little,  sobbing  girl  into  his  arms,  raised  up  his  wretched 
wife,  and  taking  her  infant  to  his  own  bosom,  walked 
slowly  away  with  her  into  the  forest.  He  tried  to  say 
something  to  her;  but  the  thought  of  reprobation  choked 
him  They  reached  a  place  out  of  sight,  and  sat  down. 


104  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

He  struggled  again  for  some  words  that  would  comfort 
her ;  but  it  was  in  vain. 

At  last  the  thought  that  had  held  her  dumb  also,  burst 
from  her  heart. 

"Can  you  ever  forgive  me,"  she  cried,  "for  leaving  home 
as  I  did  last  night  ? " 

He  saw,  from  her  words,  that  the  horrible  dream  of  an 
infant's  hell  Had  not  yet  oppressed  her  brain.  That  phan- 
tom was  born  of  his  own  theology.  A  mother's  heart  had 
already  predestined  her  children  to  glory,  and  all  the  the- 
ology of  earth  could  not  have  reversed  that  heart's  decree ! 
The  sting  of  her  grief  was  the  thought  of  her  own  neg- 
lect. He  soothed  her  anguish  by  the  assurance  that  she 
had  gone  that  evening  where  duty  had  called  her,  and  that 
for  some  wise  and  good  purpose  this  blow  had  fallen  upon 
them. 

After  his  children's  remains  were  buried,  his  neighbors 
came  together  to  help  him  ;  and,  in  a  few  days,  another 
cabin  sheltered  his  family.  But  his  neighbors,  too,  were 
poor,  and  every  article  of  domestic  comfort  was  scarce,  so 
that  his  house  was  empty  and  bare.  He  drank  the  new 
milk  every  morning  from  the  bowl  of  a  cymbling,  scraped 
out  by  the  hands  of  his  wife. 

He  recollected  that  a  small  portion  of  the  money  which 
he  had  lost  was  in  coin.  He  hurried  to  the  ruins  of  his 
cabin,  to  the  spot  where  his  chest  had  stood,  in  the  till  of 
which  he  always  kept  his  money.  He  scraped  among  the 
ashes  with  his  hands,  and  found  a  small  mass  of  silver. 
This  he  sold  in  Huntsville  for  seventy-six  dollars,  which, 
with  a  balance  owed  him  by  some  merchants  of  that  place, 
enabled  him  to  provide  such  things  as  were  necessary  to 
the  health  and  comfort  of  his  family. 

But  though  the  Lord  had  so  severely  rebuked  his  ambi- 
tion, he  soon  began  to  lay  new  schemes  of  worldly  aggran- 


DEATH  OF  MRS.  SMITH.  10$ 

dizement.  The  stock  which  he  had  brought  with  him 
from  Kentucky  still  ranged  the  forests ;  his  brawny  muscle, 
his  nerves  of  wire,  and  his  almost  unconquerable  will,  re- 
mained. He  could  yet  so  arrange  his  affairs  that,  with 
Hiram's  aid,  and  such  help  as  his  poor  wife  could  give,  he 
would  be  able  to  raise  some  cotton  for  the  market.  His 
crops  would  increase  from  year  to  year,  and  to  retrieve  all 
his  lost  prospects  would  be  but  a  work  of  time. 

But  the  pale,  melancholy  face  of  that  wife  never  bright- 
ened again.  His  own  sunny  temper  could  not  remove  the 
shadow  from  her  brow.  As  soon  almost  as  she  was  com- 
fortably housed  in  her  new  cabin,  the  good  woman  sickened 
and  died,  and  they  buried  her  by  the  ashes  of  her  children. 

They  had  scarcely  thrown  over  her  the  mold  of  the 
forest,  when  he,  too,  the  man  of  strong  will  and  iron  nerve, 
was  stricken  down  with  the  Cold  Plague.  He  lay  for  a 
long  time  in  the  utmost  distress  of  body  and  mind.  A 
month  of  wasting  fever  dragged  slowly  by.  His  wife's 
brother  and  sister  had  returned  to  Kentucky,  and  neighbors 
came  by  turns  and  watched  him.  Two  Christian  women, 
who  lived  down  among  his  father's  friends,  came  to  see 
him,  and  when  they  went  back,  they  took  away  his  com- 
plaining children,  and  nursed  them  through  days  and  weeks 
of  sickness  in  their  own  pleasant  homes. 

Another  month  wore  away,  yet  he  grew  no  better.  One 
kind  woman,  full  of  the  temper  of  her  Lord,  came  every 
morning,  and  nursed  him  through  the  day  with  a  tenderness 
and  skill  that  made  the  wretched  man  almost  wish  to  live, 
for  no  one  had  ever  prayed  more  fervently  to  die.  Anna 
Miller  came  every  morning — for  she  lived  near  by — and 
brought  such  little  comforts  and  soothing  remedies  as  he 
had  begged  for,  or  the  doctor  had  prescribed.  One  thing 
only  they  denied  him,  though  for  that  he  begged  with  such 
plaintive  agony  that  his  nurse,  and  even  his  physician, 


106  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

wept  when  they  refused  it.  They  denied  him  water,  cold, 
fresh  water,  though  the  fever  parched  his  flesh,  and  fast 
dried  up  his  blood !  His  tongue  at  last  grew  speechless  ; 
but  with  hollow,  pleading  eyes,  he  still  begged  on  for 
water. 

Another  month  of  agony  came  on.  Nature  seemed  to 
yield  to  the  disease,  and  the  doctor  left  him  to  return  no 
more.  But  Anna  Miller  still  kept  watch  beside  him.  At 
her  instance,  her  father,  Archibald  Woods,  who  lived  about 
fifteen  miles  off,  came  one  day  to  make  arrangements  to 
move  him,  if  possible,  to  his  house. 

"  I  come,  Mr.  Smith,"  said  he,  with  much  emotion,  "  to 
see  if  we  can  move  you  away  from  here.     You  shall  be 
taken  to  my  house  to  die.    I  will  send  for  you  to-morrow— 
now  will  you  come  ? " 

A  fine  spring  of  water  gushed  from  a  shaded  hill-side 
near  the  bouse  of  Mr.  Woods.  The  sick  man  had  often 
thought  of  that  spring  in  his  wakeful  hours,  when  the 
fever  burned  him,  and  had  dreamed  of  it  in  his  fitful  slum- 
bers. Now  he  seemed  to"  hear  its  gushing  music,  and  to 
taste  its  bubbling  freshness.  His  sunken  eye  gleamed  with 
pleasure,  and  with  his  bony  hand  he  begged  for  water! 

"  You  shall  have  it,"  said  his  friend,  firmly,  "  if  you  only 
live  to  get  to  my  house." 

Archibald  Woods  went  home,  and  sent  his  wagon  for 
him.  It  came  in  the  evening,  so  that  he  might  be  carried 
away  in  the  coolness  of  the  early  morning.  The  body  cf 
the  wagon  was  half  filled  with  cotton  yet  on  the  seed,  on 
which  a  bed  was  laid.  They  carried  him  at  dawn  in  an 
arm-chair  to  the  wagon,  and  laid  him  down  upon  the  bed. 
The  hope  of  water  seemed  to  give  him  strength,  and  they 
moved  on  in  their  journey  briskly.  His  impatient  friend, 
however,  had  come  out  to  meet  him  on  the  road. 

"Is  he  still  alive  ?"  he  asked  of  the  driver. 


RECOVERS  FROM  HIS  SICKNESS.  IO/ 

"  He  was,"  said  the  man,  "  only  a  few  minutes  ago." 
Woods  looked  into  the  wagon,  and  the  eyes  of  the  sick 
man  lighted  up  with  gratitude. 

"You  shall  have  it,  Mr.  Smith,"  said  he;  "you  shall 
have  as  much  as  you  want  when  we  get  home," — and  he 
kept  by  the  side  of  the  wagon  till  it  reached  his  door. 
They  lifted  him  out  gently,  and  carried  him  into  a  pleasant 
room,  and  laid  him  down. 

"  Bettie ! "  shouted  the  blunt,  but  kind  old  man  to  a  serv- 
ant, "  run  to  the  head  of  the  spring  and  bring  me  a  pitcher 
of  water,  quick ! " 

They  gave  him  one  mouthful — all  that  he  would  take — 
for  no  draught  ever  seemed  so  vile  to  his  taste  !  He 
could  not  believe  it  was  water,  and  he  turned  from  it 
with  a  look  of  disappointment  and  disgust.  They  brought 
him  a  glass  of  cold  still-beer.  He  sipped  it,  and  then 
begged  for  more.  Soon  he  called  again  for  water,  and  his 
parched  mouth,  at  last,  began  to  feel  its  coolness.  He 
drank  on  with  a  frenzied  thirst,  and  at  length  dropped  off 
to  sleep. 

"  He  is  gone ! "  sobbed  Anna  Miller,  as  she  saw  the 
great  drops  gather  in  his  face. 

"  It  is  the  sleep  of  death  ! "  said  Archibald  Woods  ;  and 
the  family  gathered  in,  and  stood  around  him. 

No  sound  disturbed  that  rest.  He  slept  on  in  his  sweaty 
sleep  through  the  evening  and  through  the  livelong  night, 
and  waked  in  the  morning  of  his  own  accord;  he  was 
saved  ! 

It  was  now  July  ;  and  he  had  been  sick  since  April. 
He  soon  began  to  recover  his  strength,  but  his  nerves 
were  much  shattered,  and  both  arms  long  shook  with  palsy. 
When  well  enough  to  go  about  and  eat  his  usual  meals  at 
the  table,  they  still  had  to  feed  him  as  a  child ;  for  he 
could  not  use  a  knife  and  fork.  He  now  frequently  heard 


IO8  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

from  his  little  children.  They,  too,  had  recovered  from 
their  sickness,  and  were  doing  well.  During  his  illness, 
he  had  often  prayed  that  they  might  not  live.  Death,  he 
had  thought,  would  be  as  great  a  boon  to  them  as  to  him, 
and  he  had  often  begged  the  Lord  to  take  all  hence  and 
join  them  to  those  who  had  gone  before. 

But  now  he  yearned  with  a  childish  impatience  to  see 
them.  He  would  sometimes  walk  down  the  hot  road  that 
led  toward  them,  till  his  strength  gave  out,  and  then  he 
would  sit  on  the  road-side  and  weep. 

"  Why  should  I  yearn  for  them  ? "  thought  he.  "  I  can 
never  take  care  of  them,  nor  will  they  ever  love  me  as  the 
others  did  ;  for  my  worldly-mindedness  has  brought  a  life 
of  wretchedness  upon  them." 

Such  reflections  would  sometimes  make  him  so  melan- 
choly that  even  Anna  Miller's  kindness  could  not  cheer 
him.  In  fact,  the  gayety  of  his  temper  was  gone,  and  his 
heart  was  crushed  by  the  tempest  that  had  burst  upon 
him. 

As  soon  as  he  was  able,  he  went  to  see  his  children,  and 
to  thank  the  friends  that  had  given  them  each  a  mother 
and  a  home.  After  some  days  he  returned,  leaving  them 
with  their  friends ;  for  they  refused  to  give  them  up,  and 
even  claimed  them  for  their  own. 

He  had  brought  with  him  from  Kentucky  some  eighty- 
five  head  of  hogs.  They  were  now  all  gone  ;  he  never 
heard  of  one  of  them  again.  He  had  brought  out  also 
fifty  head  of  good  cattle.  These,  too,  were  gone,  save  one, 
which  he  sold,  and  with  the  money  paid  off  the  bill  of  his 
physician.  A  few  simple  articles  of  cabin  furniture,  and  a 
wagon  and  team,  which  had  been  left  in  the  care  of  some 
friend,  was  all  the  property  that  he  now  had  in  the  world. 
The  very  clothes  he  wore  were  given  to  him  by  his  neigh- 
bors. Taking  a  single  coarse  shirt  for  a  change,  and  ac- 


LEAVES  ALABAMA.  IOQ 

cepting  from  his  noble  old  friend,  Archibald  Woods,  a  little 
money  for  his  expenses,  he  bade  adieu  to  his  friends  in 
Alabama,  to  his  children,  and  to  the  graves  of  his  lost 
ones,  and,  quitting  the  scene  of  his  terrible  sufferings,  be- 
gan his  solitary  journey  back  to  Kentucky. 


IIO  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Change  in  Faith — Visits  his  Mother  —  Going  to  Crab  Orchard  —  His  Costume—- 
His Humiliation  and  Great  Despondency — Immense  Attendance  at  the  Crab 
Orchard  Meeting — Recognized  by  a  Friend,  and  Invited  to  Preach — Consents 
to  Address  the  Multitude — His  Mode  of  Obtaining  their  Attention — His  Suc- 
cess in  doing  so — His  Theme  and  its  Treatment — The  Session  broken  up  to 
hear  him — A  Sermon  of  Great  Power — Its  Results. 

HE  slowly  retraced  his  way  to  Stockton's  Valley,  along 
the  road  by  which,  a  few  months  before,  he  had  moved  with 
wife  and  children  and  substance,  proud  and  expectant,  to 
the  rich  wilds  of  Alabama.  As  he  rode  along,  he  reflected 
much  on  his  recent  experience,  and  began  to  see,  in  what 
he  had  suffered,  the  hand  of  the  Father  that  scourges 
whom  he  loves.  He  was  rilled  with  devout  wonder.  The 
nettle  began  to  blossom — the  bitter  bud  was  fast  unfolding 
to  a  flower.  He  painfully  pondered  the  subject  of  Election; 
but  the  heart  of  the  father  could  not  accept  the  doctrine  of 
Infant  Damnation.  "  My  children  are  happy,  for  they  were 
innocent,"  he  argued ;  and  the  faith  which  he  had  specu- 
latively  held  on  that  point  gave  way.  He  reached  the 
Valley  in  safety.  Kindred  and  friends  wept  at  his  story, 
and  took  him  at  once  to  their  homes  and  their  hearts  again. 

After  spending  a  week  or  two  with  his  mother,  who  now 
lived  with  her  son  Jonathan,  he  went  on  to  Wayne,  to  his 
old  home  on  the  Little  South  Fork  of  the  Cumberland ;  for 
he  felt  the  need  of  his  brother  William's  pious  counsel.  He 


APPEARANCE  AT  CRAB  ORCHARD.  Ill 

found  awaiting  him  there  a  letter  from  Jeremiah  Vardeman, 
who  had  heard  of  his  afflictions,  and  of  his  return  to  Ken- 
tucky. That  faithful  friend  wrote,  that  the  brethren  of 
Elkhorn  had  raised  a  contribution  for  his  benefit,  which 
they  would  shortly  send  to  him  by  his  hands ;  and  he  urged 
him  to  be  present  at  the  meeting  of  the  Tate's  Creek  As- 
sociation, which  would  soon  be  held  at  Crab  Orchard.  I 
was  to  be  an  important  meeting  of  the  churches,  he  said, 
and  a  great  number  of  ministers  and  people  would  be  there. 

Smith  set  out  at  once  for  Crab  Orchard.  It  was  the  last 
of  August,  the  heat  was  great,  and  the  roads  were  dusty, 
from  a  long-continued  drought.  Puffs  of  hot  air  stirred  the 
soil,  and  the  dust  almost  smothered  traveler  and  beast  as 
they  sweltered  along  the  highway.  His  horse  was  jaded 
and  lean.  Across  a  worn  and  weathered  saddle  he  had 
thrown  a  pair  of  tattered  saddle-bags,  in  which  he  carried 
his  single  change  of  homespun ;  this  he  was  keeping  to 
wear  on  Sunday,  the  great  day  of  the  Association. 

He  reached  Crab  Orchard  on  Saturday,  with  the  dust  of 
the  journey  thick  upon  him.  He  wore  a  pair  of  homespun 
cotton  pantaloons,  striped  with  copperas — loose  enough, 
but  far  too  short  for  him — and  a  cotton  coat,  once  checked 
with  blue  and  white,  but  now  of  undistinguishable  colors ; 
they  had  been  given  to  him  in  Alabama.  His  shapeless 
hat  was  streaked  with  sweat  and  dust.  His  socks,  too 
large  for  his  shrunken  ankles,  hung  down  upon  his  foxy 
shoes.  His  shirt  was  coarse  and  dirty,  and  unbuttoned  at 
the  neck;  his  white  cravat  was  in  the  coffin  of  his  wife. 
He  hitched  his  horse  far  off,  to  the  branch  of  a  tree,  and, 
with  his  saddle-bags  upon  his  arm,  walked  humbly  toward 
the  meeting-house.  A  great  crowd  loitered  about  the 
grounds,  but  no  familiar  face  was  there  to  greet  him  with 
a  look  of  recognition.  Great,  indeed,  was  his  humiliation ; 
for  the  shadow  of  the  wrathful  cloud  still  lay  dark  upon  his 


112  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

spirit.  So  unworthy  did  he  feel,  that  he  would  have  shrunk 
from  recognition,  even  by  Vardeman  himself.  He  turned 
aside,  and  gave  the  way  to  every  one,  thinking  it  not 
strange  that  he  drew  upon  himself  their  curious  stare,  or 
met  their  looks  of  pity  or  contempt.  He  reached  the  door 
of  the  meeting-house,  and  stood  before  it.  Ministers  and 
happy  brethren  were  crowding  the  seats  and  thronging  the 
aisles  within.  Stepping  back,  that  a  group  of  well-dressed 
people  might  pass  in  before  him,  he  stood  for  a  moment 
longer  before  the  door,  and  then  sat  down  upon  the  thres- 
hold. He  had  no  heart  to  venture  in ;  and  he  was  weary 
and  faint  with  his  journey.  They  almost  trod  upon  him  as 
they  crowded  by  him ;  for  no  one,  it  seemed,  in  all  that 
vast  assembly,  either  knew  or  cared  to  know  him. 

Soon  a  voice  within,  rich  as  music,  caught  his  ear: 

"  Brother  Moderator,  it  is  impossible  to  transact  the 
business  of  the  Association  in  the  midst  of  such  a  multi- 
tude as  this.  Many  hundreds  of  people  are  yet  without, 
and  the  house  can  hold  no  more.  Let  some  one  be  ap- 
pointed to  preach  to  the  people  from  the  stand.  This  will 
engage  the  crowd,  and  we  can  go  on  with  the  business  of 
the  morning." 

It  was  the  voice  of  Jacob  Creath.  While  John  Smith 
was  listening,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  to  the  melody  of 
that  voice,  his  arm  was  grasped  by  an  old  friend,  named 
Thomas  Hansford,  who  had  just  recognized  him.  Only  a 
few  words  could  be  exchanged ;  for  the  people  had  begun 
to  pour  out  of  the  house,  and  were  now  hurrying  to  the 
woods." 

"  You  must  come  and  preach  for  us,"  said  his  friend ; 
"  the  people  will  be  glad  to  hear  you." 

"  I  can  not  do  it,  brother  Hansford,"  said  he.  "  If  the 
people  knew  but  half  my  story,  they  would  not  want  to 
hear  me.  They  would  pity,  and  excuse  me." 


RECOGNIZED,  AND  INVITED   TO  PREACH.         113 

It  was  arranged  by  Thomas  Hansford,  however,  that 
Smith  should  occupy  the  stand  with  two  others  that  had 
just  been  appointed  to  speak.  One  of  these  was  a  student 
of  divinity,  who  had  recently  come  out  from  Philadelphia, 
in  company  with  Luther  Rice,  who  also  was  present  on  that 
occasion ;  the  other  was  an  awkward  and  inexperienced 
young  preacher  of  the  neighborhood ;  they  now  came  out 
of  the  house  together,  and  passed  on  to  the  grove.  Smith 
arose,  and  walked  behind  them. 

"Why  does  that  dirty  fellow  follow  us?"  said  one  of 
these  young  ministers  to  the  other,  glancing  behind  him. 
Smith  heard  him,  but  without  emotion.  He  had  been  so 
humbled  by  the  chastisement  of  heaven,  that  he  could  not 
now  feel  the  sneers  of  men.  When  he  reached  the  stand, 
he  found  a  great  concourse  assembled.  He  sat  down  on  a 
log  nea/  by,  and  the  two  young  ministers  went  up  on  the 
stand.  They  arose  in  turns,  to  speak ;  but  each,  after  a 
vain  attempt,  had  to  sit  down,  and  confess  his  need  of  grace 
to  finish. 

"  If  the  Lord  will  not  give  it  to  me,  brethren,"  said  one 
of  them,  as  he  took  his  seat,  "  I  can  not  get  it ! " 

Thomas  Hansford,  and  another,  who  now  recognized 
Smith,  again  pressed  him  to  go  forward  and  say  something 
to  the  people,  who  were  disappointed,  and  were  already  be- 
ginning to  disperse.  At  once  an  inspiration  seemed  to 
move  him ;  he  lifted  up  his  head,  and  sat  erect ;  he  arose, 
and,  with  a  firm  step,  walked  to  the  stand  and  stood  up 
before  the  people.  As  he  looked  around  upon  them,  his 
eye  kindled  and  his  spirit  was  stirred  within  him.  The 
multitude  stared  curiously  for  a  moment  at  the  uncouth 
figure  before  them.  Some  laughed  outright ;  while  others 
turned  away  from  him,  and  left  the  ground. 

He  saw  that,  unless  he  employed  some  artifice  to  detain 
them,  not  a  hearer  would  be  left.  With  a  noble  voice, 
10 


1 14  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

such  as  had  so  often  sounded  among  the  hills  of  Wayne, 
he  called  aloud : 

"  Stay,  friends,  and  hear  what  the  great  Augustine  said !" 
and  they  all  stopped  to  listen. 

"  Augustine  wished  to  see  three  things  before  he  died," 
continued  Smith.  "  Rome  in  her  glory  and  purity ;  Paul 
on  Mars'  Hill;  and  Jesus  in  the  flesh."  A  few  now  sat 
down,  but  many  smiled,  and  started  off  again. 

"  Will  you  not  stay,"  he  cried,  in  a  still  louder  voice, 
"  and  hear  what  the  great  Cato  said  ? "  Many  returned  and 
took  their  seats,  and  seemed  willing  to  be  amused. 

"  Cato,"  he  continued,  "  repented  of  three  things  before 
his  death:  first,  that  he  had  ever  spent  an  idle  day; 
secondly,  that  he  had  ever  gone  on  a  voyage  by  water, 
when  he  might  have  made  the  same  journey  on  land ;  and 
thirdly,  that  he  had  ever  told  the  secrets  of  his  bosom  to 
a  woman." 

The  people  continued  to  come  back,  and  began  to  crowd 
close  to  the  stand.  A  few  acquaintances,  who  had  not 
seen  him  for  a  long  time,  now  recognized  him,  and  passed 
the  word  among  the  crowd — "  It  is  John  Smith,  from  the 
Little  South  Fork ! "  Seeing  groups  of  persons  still  stand- 
ing in  the  distance,  he  called  again  with  all  the  strength 
of  his  heavy  voice : 

"  Come,  friends,  and  hear  what  the  great  Thales  thanked 
the  gods  for." 

"  Let  us  go  and  hear  the  fellow,"  said  one ;  "  there  may 
be  more  in  him  than  we  suppose."  And  they  all,  at  last, 
sat  down  near  by  to  listen. 

"  Thales  thanked  the  gods  for  three  things :  first,  that 
he  was  endowed  with  reason,  and  was  not  a  brute ;  secondly, 
that  he  was  a  Greek,  and  not  a  Barbarian;  and  thirdly, 
that  he  was  a  man,  and  not  a  woman." 

"  And  now,  friends,  I  know  you  are  ready  to  ask :  '  And 


HIS  MODE  OF  OBTAINING  ATTENTION.  11$ 

pray,  sir,  who  are  you  ?  What  have  you  to  say  for  your- 
self?"' 

"  I  am  John  Smith,  from  Stockton's  Valley.  In  more 
recent  years,  I  have  lived  in  Wayne,  among  the  rocks  and 
hills  of  the  Cumberland.  Down  there,  saltpeter  caves 
abound,  and  raccoons  make  their  homes.  On  that  wild 
frontier  we  never  had  good  schools,  nor  many  books ;  con- 
sequently, I  stand  before  you  to-day  a  man  without  an 
education.  But,  my  brethren,  even  in  that  ill-favored 
region,  the  Lord,  in  good  time,  found  me.  He  showed  me 
his  wondrous  grace,  and  called  me  to  preach  the  everlast- 
ing Gospel  of  his  Son. 

"  Redemption !  Redemption ! ! "  he  shouted,  and  his  voice 
sounded  through  the  woods  like  the  tones  of  a  trumpet. 
He  had  no  Bible,  but  he  quoted,  in  the  same  loud  voice,  his 
text: 

"  He  sent  Redemption  to  his  people ;  he  hath  com- 
manded his  covenant  forever:  holy  and  reverend  is  his 
name." — Psalm  iii :  9. 

He  spoke  of  Redemption,  first,  as  conceived;  secondly, 
as  applied;  and  thirdly,  as  completed. 

Under  the  first  head,  he  explained  the  nature  of  the 
eternal  covenant  between  the  Father  and  the  Son,  in 
which  the  Father  promised  the  Son  a  certain  portion  of 
the  human  race,  and  the  Son,  on  his  part,  agreed  to  redeem 
them  by  his  sufferings  and  death. 

Under  the  second  head,  he  discussed  the  question  of 
human  depravity,  and  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
upon  the  heart  of  the  sinner. 

Under  the  last  head,  he  spoke  with  great  fervor  of  the 
resurrection  of  Christ,  and  of  the  perseverance  of  the  saints 
through  grace  to  glory. 

He  had  been  speaking  but  a  short  time,  when  a  man, 
who  had  listened  with  astonishment  to  his  exordium, 


Il6  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

pressed  through  the  audience  and  hurried  to  the  house, 
and  going  up  to  Jacob  Creath,  begged  him  to  let  all  busi- 
ness alone,  and  to  come  out  immediately  to  the  stand. 

"  Why,"  said  Creath,  "  what 's  the  matter  ? " 

"  Sir,"  said  he,  "  the  fellow  with  the  striped  coat  on,  that 
was  raised  among  the  'coons,  is  up;  come  and  hear  him 
preach!  His  name  is  Smith." 

"  What !  John  Smith  ? "  asked  Creath ;  and  at  the  men- 
tion of  that  name,  the  tears  came  into  his  eyes ;  for  he,  too, 
had  heard  the  story  of  Smith's  misfortunes.  He  left  the 
house  immediately,  and  went  out  to  the  grove,  and  quietly 
took  his  seat  upon  the  platform  behind  the  speaker.  Others 
soon  followed ;  for  it  was  noised  among  them  that  some 
extraordinary  scene  was  transpiring  without.  In  fact,  the 
morning  session  of  the  Association  was  broken  up ;  preach- 
ers and  people  rushed  out,  and  gathered  about  the  plat- 
form. Many  that  could  not  find  seats  or  places  to  stand, 
climbed  the  trees  close  by ;  and  the  very  saplings  swayed 
with  people  eager  to  see  and  to  hear.  When  the  speaker 
reached  the  third  and  last  division  of  his  subject,  and  be- 
gan to  paint  the  final  glory  of  God's  elect,  the  multitude 
arose  and  stood  upon  their  feet ;  and  when  he  closed  his 
impassionate  exhortation,  every  eye  was  weeping,  and 
every  heart  and  lip  blessed  the  man  without  an  education. 

He  turned  to  find  a  seat,  for  he  was  exhausted.  Creath 
rushed  toward  him  and  clasped  him  in  his  arms.  They 
had  never  met  before ;  but,  from  that  day,  they  never  met 
without  embracing. 

"  I  took  you  to  my  heart,  John,"  Creath  often  afterward 
said,  "  that  first  time  I  ever  saw  you ;  and  I  expect  to  do 
so  every  time  I  meet  you,  till  I  die." 

All  the  preachers,  even  those  who  had  reviled  him,  now 
came  forward  to  grasp  his  hand ;  and  the  people  continued 
for  some  time  to  press  upon  him.  His  sad  story  passed 


RECEIVES  A   CONTRIBUTION.  II 7 

from  group  to  group  that  day,  and  every  one  felt  for  him  a 
tearful  sympathy  and  tender  respect.  His  friend,  Jeremiah 
Vardeman,  had  been  prevented  from  attending  the  Asso- 
ciation ;  but  the  contribution  which  he  had  raised,  amount- 
ing to  $55,12^,  had  been  safely  brought  by  the  hands  of 
another. 

Smith  was  urged  to  preach  that  night,  for  every  body 
wished  to  hear  again  the  man  that  had  been  raised  among 
the  raccoons.  But  he  would  not  consent  to  do  so,  and  he 
rather  shrank  from  the  attentions  that  were  now  pressed 
upon  him. 

On  Monday,  the  Association  adjourned,  and  he  returned 
to  Stockton's  Valley,  preaching  at  Somerset,  in  Wayne, 
and  at  other  places  on  the  road.  The  people  every-where 
heard  his  story,  and,  while  they  saddened  to  think  of  his 
misfortunes,  they  smiled  when  told  how  he  looked  that 
day  on  the  stand,  as  he  declared  his  origin  among  the 
raccoons  and  caves  of  the  rocky  frontier. 


Il8  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    X. 

Returns  to  Stockton's  Valley — Places  his  Children  with  his  Brother  Jonathan — 
Reads  Fuller's  Works — Does  not  fully  accept  Fuller's  Doctrines — The  Hurt 
Family — Smith  Advised  to  seek  a  wealthy  Wife — Engaged  to  marry  Nancy 
Hurt — Starts  on  a  Tour — Preaches  at  Nicholasville — Taylor's  Prayer  for 
Smith — Jacob  Creath's  Sermon — Marries  on  Christmas  day. 

His  first  care,  after  his  return  to  Stockton's  Valley, 
was  to  make  arrangements  for  bringing  his  children  to 
Kentucky.  His  brother  Jonathan  having  offered  to  take 
them,  he  went  down  for  them  early  in  September,  and 
brought  them  back  in  his  own  wagon,  which  he  had  left 
in  the  Hickory  Flats. 

He  sold  his  wagon  and  horses  for  a  good  price,  and 
leaving  his  children  well  cared  for  with  his  brother,  he 
went  up  to  Wayne  again,  and  invested  his  little  means 
in  some  wild  land,  near  his  old  neighborhood,  on  the  Little 
South  Fork.  He  seems  to  have  had  a  wish  to  retrace  his 
steps  as  far  as  he  could,  and  to  correct  the  first  sad  blun- 
der of  his  life. 

He  was  now  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  age,  and,  with 
the  exception  of  a  slight  palsy,  which  sometimes  shook 
his  arms  after  any  severe  labor,  he  was  as  robust  as  ever. 
He  worked  as  he  had  always  done,  and  preached  through 
the  country  with  even  more  acceptance  than  before.  He 
continued  to  examine  the  Scriptural  grounds  for  the  doc- 
trine of  personal  and  unconditional  election,  which  had  not 


READS  FULLER'S    WORKS.  1 19 

ceased  to  trouble  him  since  the  death  of  his  children. 
Isaac  Hodgen,  who  was  one  of  the  most  amiable  and  use- 
ful of  the  Baptist  preachers,  but  who  was  never  a  high- 
toned  Calvinist,  having  heard  of  his  perplexities,  asked 
him,  one  day,  if  he  had  ever  read  any  of  Fuller's  works, 
especially  his  "  Gospel  Worthy  of  all  Acceptation."  John 
Smith  had  never  heard  of  such  a  book,  although  it  had 
excited  much  controversy,  and  was  materially  modifying 
the  doctrines  of  his  Church.  Hodgen  sent  him  the  book, 
which  he  read  with  deep  interest.  The  idea  of  a  general 
atonement  and  special  application  seemed  to  him,  at  the 
time,  plausible,  and  he  was  much  comforted.  But,  though 
his  Calvinism  softened,  he  did  not  finally  accept  the  views 
of  Fuller — convinced,  after  reflection,  that  they  were  more 
inconsistent  than  those  of  Calvin  himself. 

Andrew  Fuller,  of  England,  believing  that  ultra-Calvin- 
ism was  paralyzing  the  efforts  of  ministers  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature,  set  himself  to  oppose  it  with 
all  his  might.  The  popular  view,  at  the  time,  denied  faith 
to  be  the  duty  of  those  to  whom  the  Gospel  came — that 
it  was  entirely  the  gift  of  God — who  gave  it  in  his  own 
good  time,  by  the  irresistible  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  to  the  elect  only. 

To  refute  this  doctrine,  Fuller  wrote  a  book  called 
"  The  Gospel  Worthy  of  all  Acceptation ;  or  the  Obliga- 
tions of  Men  fully  to  credit  and  cordially  to  approve 
whatever  God  makes  known." 

"  This  valuable  treatise  operated  powerfully,  and  set 
thousands  upon  examining  their  received  principles.  A 
host  of  opponents  rose  up  to  oppose  this  New  Doctrine, 
as  it  was  termed  ;  and  the  author  had  to  defend  himself 
or.  every  side,  which  he  did  with  no  ordinary  dexterity, 
taking  his  stand  on  the  Word  of  God,  with  the  meekness 
of  wisdom,  but  with  the  lion  heart  of  Luther." 


120  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

About  the  close  of  the  year,  John  Smith's  friends,  see- 
ing him  still  much  depressed  in  mind,  began  to  urge  him, 
with  the  utmost  delicacy  and  kindness,  for  his  own  sake, 
and  that  of  his  children,  to  marry  again.  In  fact,  his 
mental  conflict  with  Calvinism,  his  painful  struggles  with 
himself  in  his  loneliness,  and  his  too  busy  memory,  con- 
tinued to  cast  over  his  spirit,  at  times,  the  deepest  gloom. 

There  lived  in  the  neighborhood  a  worthy  and  substan- 
tial family,  whose  friendly  offices  he  had  often  enjoyed. 
The  Hurts  were  an  industrious  and  frugal  people,  dis- 
tinguished for  their  quiet  temper,  and  robust,  common 
sense.  Nancy  Hurt  combined  these  qualities  in  her  own 
character,  and  had,  besides,  one  of  the  kindest  hearts  in 
the  world  ;  but  she  was  poor.  Smith,  whose  growing  pop- 
ularity as  a  preacher,  had  awakened  ambitious  hopes  in 
the  minds  of  some  of  his  friends,  was  urged  to  marry  rich  ; 
and  to  this  end  he  was  advised  to  go  and  preach  among 
the  wealthy  churches,  and  there  seek  a  wife  that  would 
endow  him  with  both  love  and  fortune. 

He  set  out,  in  December  following,  on  a  tour  through 
the  wealthier  counties  of  the  State.  None  but  Nancy 
Hurt  knew  the  real  purpose  of  his  journey  ;  for,  before  he 
left,  he  had  promised  her  to  come  back  at  Christmas — and 
she  had  plighted  her  word  to  become  his  wife. 

The  suggestion  that  he  might  become  rich  by  a  merce- 
nary marriage,  was  like  the  voice  of  the  tempter  again ;  but 
there  was  no  longer  any  worldly  pride  in  his  heart  that 
could  be  aroused.  Never  in  his  life  had  he  profaned,  even 
in  thought,  the  institution  of  marriage,  by  looking  upon  it 
as  a  means  of  worldly  aggrandizement.  Now,  he  listened  to 
the  suggestion,  not  only  with  distaste,  but  with  abhorrence. 

He  went  from  home  to  shun  officious  counsel,  and  to 
escape  the  impertinence  of  idle  tongues.  With  a  prudence 
that  well  harmonized  with  the  slimness  of  his  purse,  he 


PREACHES  AT  NICHOLASVILLE.  121 

/ 

made  no  preparations  for  his  marriage ;  he  did  not  even 
order  a  wedding  suit,  so  that  his  neighbors  had  no  suspi- 
cion of  his  design.  They  idly  speculated,  sometimes  in 
the  hearing  of  Nancy  Hurt  herself,  on  the  probable  issue 
of  his  matrimonial  tour  ;  and  they  made  his  sky  gorgeous 
with  their  own  vain  dreamings.  The  gossips  of  the  Little 
South  Fork  were  all  at  fault ;  and,  pleased  with  the  thought, 
he  started  off  on  his  tour  to  Northern  Kentucky. 

At  Nicholasville,  in  Jessamine  county,  he  was  met  and 
embraced  again  by  Jacob  Creath.  An  appointment  had 
been  made  for  him  at  that  place,  and  many  had  come  to- 
gether to  hear  him.  He  preached  from  a  part  of  II  Cor. 
i:  10:  "Who  delivered  us  from  so  great  a  death,  and 
doth  deliver."  From  this  fragment  of  Holy  Writ  he  ex- 
tracted, by  some  ingenious  process  of  his  own,  the  doctrine 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  works  directly,  and  with  irresistible 
power,  on  the  heart  of  the  dead  sinner,  in  order  to  give 
him  life.  The  deliverance  of  which  the  Apostle  speaks, 
he  aimed  to  show,  was  a  joyous  liberation  from  the  bands 
of  a  spiritual  death,  and  was  accomplished  by  the  power 
of  God  alone,  "who  delivers  us  from  so  great  a  death." 
The  doctrine  of  the  text  he  proceeded  to  confirm  by  his 
own  religious  experience  ;  his  struggles  at  dawn,  in  the 
spice-wood  thicket,  and  the  hope  that  then  came  like  a 
gleam  of  starlight  into  his  soul,  were  used  to  illustrate  the 
mode  of  that  deliverance. 

The  people  were  astonished.  Jacob  Creath,  who  had 
purposed  to  follow  him  in  a  second  discourse  that  morn- 
ing, arose,  and,  in  his  peculiar  manner,  said : 

"Brethren,  I  can  not  attempt  to  preach  this  morning, 
after  such  a  display  of  light  and  learning.  To  do  so, 
would  only  be  to  put  out,  perhaps,  the  light-house  which 
the  brother  has  erected  for  the  guidance  of  the  people. 
But  I  will  preach  this  evening." 
II 


122  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

John  Taylor,  an  eminent  and  somewhat  eccentric 
preacher  of  the  times,  was  present ;  and  being  called  on  to 
close  the  meeting,  earnestly  prayed  : 

"  Lord,  we  thank  thee  that  while  many  of  us  are  grow- 
ing old,  thou  hast  raised  up  this  young  man  from  the 
hill  country.  He  is  now  thirty-two  years  old.  Lord, 
grant  that  he  may  live  yet  thirty-two  years  longer ! " 

Jacob  Creath  addressed  the  people  in  the  evening.  Like 
Smith,  he  was  a  man  of  but  little  culture,  but  of  great  nat- 
ural powers.  He  was,  perhaps,  the  most  eloquent  preacher 
of  his  day,  and  one  of  the  most  tender-hearted  and  affec- 
tionate of  men.  His  voice  was  toned  with  music;  his 
style,  ornate ;  his  manner  full  of  grace ;  and  whether  he 
reasoned  or  exhorted,  whether  calm  or  impassioned,  he 
always  held  his  audience  spell-bound  to  the  close. 

He  spoke  on  the  final  perseverance  of  the  saints — a 
theme  that  he  loved —  which  was  appropriate,  too,  as  logi- 
cally related  to  the  subject  of  the  morning.  With  a  bold 
imagery,  he  painted  the  Christian  hero — strong,  brave, 
and  hopeful — panoplied  in  heaven's  golden  armor,  and 
eager  for  the  conflict.  He  described  his  enemies  as  a  for- 
midable host,  arrayed  against  him  on  the  right  hand  and 
on  the  left,  lurking  in  ambuscades  about  his  path,  and 
springing  mines  beneath  his  feet.  Troubled  on  every  side, 
the  true  soldier  of  the  cross  was  not  distressed ;  though 
perplexed,  he  never  despaired  ;  though  persecuted,  he  was 
not  forsaken  ;  and  though  cast  down,  he  was  not  destroyed. 
At  times,  defeated  or  discomfited,  he  still  moved  forward 
unsubdued,  amid  reverses  and  alarms,  to  the  glorious  tri- 
umph that  awaited  him  in  the  city  of  his  God.  His  text 
was:  "Gad,  a  troop  shall  overcome  him:  but  he  shall 
overcome  at  last." — Gen.  xlix :  19. 

From  Nicholasville,  they  traveled  together  through  the 
adjacent  counties,  visiting  and  confirming  the  churches. 


MARRIES  NANCY  HURT.  12$ 

At  David's  Fork,  near  Lexington,  Smith  again  met  Var- 
deman,  who  could  not,  it  seems,  forget  either  the  misfor- 
tunes or  the  gifts  of  his  young  friend  from  the  hill  country. 
He  kindly  remonstrated  with  him  for  continuing  to  hide 
his  Lord's  talent,  and  again  urged  him  to  seek  a  more  in- 
viting field  of  labor.  On  Sunday,  after  Smith  had  preached 
to  the  congregation,  Vardeman,  whose  kindness  was  always 
manifested  in  some  substantial,  if  not  delicate,  manner,  re 
ferred  to  his  brother's  history,  and  begged  a  contribution 
for  him.  Smith,  though  he  felt  that  it  was  no  disgrace  to 
be  either  poor  or  unfortunate,  burned  all  over  with  shame 
at  the  thought  of  appearing  as  a  traveling  mendicant  of 
the  Church.  He  turned  his  face  homeward,  toward  the 
Little  South  Fork,  and,  preaching  as  he  went,  reached 
home  on  the  23d  of  December.  On  Christmas  day  he 
married  Nancy  Hurt ;  and  the  New  Year  dawned  upon 
him  a  wiser  and  happier  man. 


124  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH, 


CHAPTER    XI. 

The  Two  Associations  of  Baptists  in  Kentucky,  and  their  Different  Character-  • 
Their  Union — Constitution  of  South  Kentucky  Association — David  Barrow  — 
Tried  and  Disowned  for  Preaching  on  Gradual  Emancipation — Trouble  about 
Infant  Damnation— Opposition  of  Mt.  Sterling  Church  to  the  Action  of  the 
Association — Association  Recalls  its  Action — Mr.  Waller — Letter  from  Var- 
deman — John  Smith  Invited  to  Settle  in  Montgomery  County — Mrs.  Smith's 
Silver  Spoons — Opposition  to  them — Removal  to  Montgomery  County. 

ABOUT  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  the  Bap- 
tists of  Kentucky  were,  for  the  most  part,  gathered  into 
two  bodies,  known  as  the  Elkhorn  and  the  South  Kentucky 
Association.  These  two  communities  differed  much  in 
religious  temper  and  doctrine.  Elkhorn  was  rigid  in  her 
interpretation  of  the  Creed,  and  her  ministers,  under  the 
popular  name  of  Regular  Baptists,  contended,  almost  with- 
out exception,  for  every  jot  and  tittle  of  the  Philadelphia 
Confession  of  Faith. 

South  Kentucky  comprised  those  more  liberal  churches 
that  attached  comparatively  but  little  importance  to  creeds, 
and  held  the  doctrine  of  a  General  Atonement,  contending 
sometimes,  with  all  the  zeal  of  Arminians,  that  Christ 
tasted  death  for  every  man— that  the  Gospel  made  ample 
provision  for  the  salvation  of  all.  They  were  known  as 
Separate  Baptists. 

Two  unsuccessful  attempts  had  already  been  made  to 
unite  these  bodies  of  Christians — one  in  1789,  and  the 
other  in  1/93.  But  what  good  and  great  men  could  not 


TERMS  OF  UNION.  12$ 

accomplish  by  argument,  was  at  length  brought  about  by 
that  strange  religious  excitement,  which,  in  1801,  spread 
over  the  State,  and  destroyed  the  pride  of  doctrine,  and 
the  lust  of  priestly  power,  in  so  many  hearts. 

Pursuant  to  resolutions  adopted  in  both  bodies,  two  dele- 
gates from  each  of  the  churches  of  the  Elkhorn  and  the 
old  South  Kentucky  Association  met  in  convention,  at 
Howard's  Creek,  in  Clark  County,  on  the  second  Satur- 
day in  October,  1801,  and  consummated  a  union  by  the 
unanimous  ratification  of  the  following 

TERMS: 

We,  the  Committee  of  the  Elkhorn  and  South  Kentucky  As- 
sociations, do  agree  to  unite  on  the  following  plan : 

1.  That  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  are  the 
infallible  Word  of  God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 

2.  That  there  is  only  one  true  God,  and  in  the  Godhead,  or 
Divine  Essence,  there  are  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 

3.  That  by  nature  we  are  fallen  and  depraved  creatures. 

4.  That  salvation,  regeneration,  sanctification,  and  justification 
are  by  the  life,  death,  resurrection,  and  ascension  of  Jesus  Christ. 

5.  That  the  saints  will  finally,  persevere  through  grace  to  glory. 

6.  That  baptism  by  immersion  is  necessary  to  the  receiving  of 
the  Lord's  Supper. 

7.  That  the  salvation  of  the  righteous,  and  the  punishment  of 
the  wicked,  will  be  eternal.  • 

8.  That  it  is  our  duty  to  be  tender  and  affectionate  to  each 
other,  and  to  study  the  happiness  of  the  children  of  God  in  gen- 
eral, and  to  be  engaged  singly  to  promote  the  honor  of  God. 

9.  That  the  preaching  Christ  tasted  death  for  every  man,  shall 
be  no  bar  to  communion. 

10.  That  each  may  keep  up  their  association  and  church  gov- 
ernment, as  to  them  may  seem  best. 

11.  That  a  free  correspondence  be  kept  up  between  the 
churches  thus  united. 


126  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

The  boundaries  of  South  Kentucky  Association  having 
been  much  extended  during  the  revival  by  the  establish- 
ment of  many  new  churches,  it  was  thought  best  that  a 
division  of  territory  should  be  made.  About  an  equal 
number  of  churches  being  on  each  side  of  the  Kentucky 
River,  that  stream  was  made  the  line,  and  the  old  South 
Kentucky  Association  was  accordingly  divided  into  the 
North  and  the  South  District.  North  District,  compris- 
ing about  twenty-three  churches,  met  for  the  first  time  in 
October,  1802,  at  Unity,  in  Clark  County,  and  adopted  the 
following 

CONSTITUTION: 

From  a  long  series  of  experience,  we,  the  Churches  of  Jesus 
Christ,  being  regularly  baptized  by  immersion,  upon  the  profes- 
sion of  our  faith  in  Christ,  are  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  a 
combination  of  churches,  and  propose  to  keep  the  rules  of  an 
Association,  according  to  the  following  form  of  government : 

1.  The  Association  shall  be  composed  of  members  sent  from 
the  different  churches  with  letters  to  represent  them. 

2.  In  said  letters  shall  be  expressed  their  number  in  fellowship, 
those  baptized,  received  by  letter,  dismissed,  excluded,  and  de- 
ceased, since  the  last  Association. 

3.  The  Association  thus  formed  shall  be  a  council  of  advice, 
and  not  an  authoritative  body. 

4.  The  Association  shall  be  governed  by  a  regular  decorum. 

5.  The  Association  shall  have  a  moderator  and  clerk,  chosen 
by  the  suffrage  of  the  members  present. 

6.  Any  church  may  be  received  which  the  Association  may 
approve  of. 

7.  Every  church  in  the  Union  shall  be  entitled  to  an  equal 
representation. 

8.  Every  motion  made  and  seconded,  shall  come  under  the 
consideration  of  the  Association,  unless  withdrawn  by  the  member 
who  made  it. 


DAVID  BARROW.  I2/ 

9  The  Association  shall  endeavor  to  furnish  the  churches  with 
the  minutes  of  their  proceedings,  provided  the  churches  will 
furnish  the  means. 

10.  There  shall  be  a  book  kept  wherein  the  proceedings  of 
every  Association  shall  be  regularly  recorded  by  a  secretary  ap- 
pointed for  that  purpose,  who  shall  receive  a  compensation  yearly 
for  the  same. 

11.  All  questions  shall  be  determined  by  the  will  of  the  ma- 
jority in  the  Association,  as,  also,  any  amendment  or  alteration 
of  the  Constitution. 

12.  The  Association  shall  have  a  right  to  withdraw  from  any 
church  which  they  judge  to  act  or  to  persist  in  disorder. 

13.  On  the  close  of  business,  the  minutes  shall  be  read,  passed 
by  the  Association,  signed  by  the  moderator,  and  attested  by  the 
clerk. 

Not  long  after  its  organization,  the  North  District  Asso- 
ciation began  to  exercise,  in  a  very  peculiar  way,  the  func- 
tions of  an  Advisory  Council.  Charges  were  preferred 
against  Elder  David  Barrow,  a  member  of  the  church  at 
Mount  Sterling,  by  the  Bracken  Association,  to  the  effect 
that  he  was  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  churches  by  his 
opposition  to  domestic  slavery. 

Mr.  Barrow  had  removed  from  Virginia  to  Kentucky,  in 
1797.  He  had  been  one  of  the  most  fearless  and  success- 
ful opponents  of  religious  tyranny  in  his  native  State  ;  for 
he  lived  in  a  day  when  the  contest  was  going  on  between 
the  friends  and  the  foes  of  religious  liberty.  His  talents 
were  of  a  high  order ;  and  as  a  speaker  he  had,  perhaps,  no 
superior  among  the  Baptists,  either  in  Virginia  or  Ken- 
tucky. He  was  opposed  in  sentiment  to  slavery  of  every 
kind ;  and  he  did  not  hesitate,  in  Kentucky,  to  advocate 
from  the  pulpit  the  unpopular  measure  of  gradual  eman- 
cipation. 

North  District,  having  patiently  heard  the  complaint  of 


128  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH: 

the  Bracken  churches,  and  David  Barrow's  defense,  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  he  had  given  cause  of  hurt  "  by 
meddling  with  emancipation ; "  but  that  his  explanations 
and  apologies  were  satisfactory.  They  aimed,  however, 
to  provide  against  such  disturbances  in  future,  by  advising 
"that  any  minister  that  should  propagate  unsound  doc- 
trines or  views,  pernicious  to  peace  and  good  order,  might 
be  suspended  by  any  two  preachers,  until  he  could  be  for- 
mally tried  by  a  council  of  five  ministers,  whose  decision 
ought  to  be  final." 

Accordingly,  a  council  of  ministers  reported  at  the  next 
Association,  which  met  at  Grassy  Lick,  in  Montgomery 
County,  that  they  had,  according  to  the  advice  given,  dealt 
with  Mr.  Barrow  for  still  preaching  the  doctrine  of  emanci- 
pation, to  the  hurt  and  injury  of  the  feelings  of  the  brother- 
hood. The  Association  approved  the  course  of  this  coun- 
cil, and,  after  hearing  the  accused  again  in  his  own  defense, 
expelled  him  from  his  seat ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  appointed 
a  committee  to  prosecute  him  before  his  brethren  at  Mount 
Sterling. 

Questions  concerning  the  moral  condition  of  infants, 
began  also,  about  this  time,  to  excite  some  interest  among 
the  churches ;  and  the  doctrine  of  infant  corruption,  and 
infant  damnation,  was  often  discussed.  Some  of  the  more 
amiable,  though  less  orthodox,  ministers,  ventured  to  speak 
a  word  in  behalf  of  the  little  ones,  causing  much  dissatis- 
faction by  their  presumptuous  charity. 

"  What  shall  be  done  with  preachers  that  thus  propagate 
infant  purity?"  asked  the  Bald  Eagle  church;  and  North 
District  answered  : 

"  If  they  are  preachers  within  our  bounds,  we  refer  you 
to  advice  already  given  respecting  ministers  that  propagate 
unsound  doctrines." 

In  the  meantime,  the  Mount  Sterling  Church,  of  which 


OPPOSITION  OF  MOUNT  STERLING  CHURCH.      12$ 

David  Barrow  was  a  member,  refused,  on  account  of  the 
proceedings  against  him,  to  send  either  letters  or  messen- 
gers to  the  next  Association.  Other  thoughtful  churches 
of  the  District,  remembering  that  the  Constitution  declared 
that  the  Association  was  an  advisory,  and  not  an  authori- 
tative, body,  and  being  alarmed  at  the  increase  of  its  pre- 
rogative, ventured  to  inquire,  through  their  messengers : 
"  Do  the  Scriptures  warrant  such  a  procedure  ? "  To  this 
question  no  answer  was  immediately  returned.  But  at  the 
next  meeting,  the  Association  revoked  the  act  by  which 
Mr.  Barrow  had  been  expelled;  the  committee  appointed 
to  prosecute  him  was  discharged ;  the  rule  that  had  been 
devised  for  the  trial  of  ministers  was  repealed;  and  the 
judgment  of  the  five  ministers,  who,  under  that  rule,  had 
already  condemned  Mr.  Barrow,  was  revoked. 

But  the  church  at  Mount  Sterling,  grieved  at  the  course 
that  certain  brethren  had  pursued  in  this  matter,  refused 
to  admit  them  to  the  Lord's  Table;  for  which  act  the 
Association  at  once  formally  withdrew  its  fellowship  from 
that  church. 

The  result  of  all.  these  proceedings  was  such  as  might 
have  been  expected.  The  Association  began  to  mourn  the 
declension  of  religion  within  its  bounds.  Many  neglected 
to  assemble  themselves  together,  or  came  together,  not  for 
the  better,  but  for  the  worse.  The  Church  generally  had 
a  declining  ministry,  and  was  a  sickly,  wasting  society. 
Jeremiah  Vardeman  visited  some  of  the  congregations 
regularly,  and,  by  his  exhortations,  tried  to  rekindle  the 
glow  of  spiritual  life  in  hearts  that  had  already  grown  cold. 
But  even  his  influence  could  not  prevent  dissensions  from 
arising,  for  the  church  at  Lulbegrud  was,  year  after  year, 
declared  to  be  "  in  disorder." 

In  the  year  1817,  North  District  comprised  twenty-one 
churches,  with  a  membership  of  about  fourteen  hundred 


130  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

souls.  Mount  Sterling  still  remained  excluded  from  the 
connection.  Twenty-one  influential  brethren  had  been 
appointed  to  help  Lulbegrud  to  an  adjustment  of  her 
difficulties ;  and  they  had  been  so  far  successful  as  to  re- 
port that  church  at  last  in  order.  Still,  their  circular  pre- 
sented a  gloomy  picture  of  the  condition  of  religious  so- 
ciety; for,  though  some  outpourings  had  taken  place, 
religion  continued  to  languish.  A  night  season  prevailed, 
and  the  love  of  many  waxed  cold.  Divisions  still  existed, 
and  brethren  were  at  variance  one  with  another.  Elder 
Vardeman  at  last  withdrew  his  ministerial  labors  from 
them,  and  the  churches  to  which  he  had  been  preaching 
were  left  destitute.  They  complained  mournfully,  indeed, 
that  they  now  had  no  one  to  administer  to  them  the  ordi- 
nances of  Christ !  Some  seemed  to  forsake  the.  Church 
entirely,  and  to  delight  themselves  more  in  the  mysteries 
of  Freemasonry  than  in  the  services  of  the  sanctuary ;  in 
fact,  the  Association,  in  the  continued  exercise  of  its  ad- 
visory prerogative,  had,  at  last,  to  declare  that  it  was  wrong 
for  Baptists  to  sit  in  Masonic  lodges ! 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  the  North  District  when 
Jeremiah  Vardeman  wrote  to  John  Smith,  informing  him 
that  "  he  had  withdrawn  from  the  churches  in  Montgomery, 
but  that  the  Lord  had  thereby  opened  a  door  of  usefulness 
to  him.  The  brethren  there,  he  had  no  doubt,  would  be 
glad  to  have  his  services,  and,  he  thought,  they  would  liber- 
ally acknowledge  them." 

After  much  reflection,  Smith  concluded  to  visit  Mont- 
gomery County ;  and  he  authorized  his  friend  to  say  to  the 
church  at  Lulbegrud,  that  he  would  be  with  them  at  their 
annual  meeting  in  May.  Vardeman  wrote  accordingly  to 
James  Mason,  a  prominent  and  devoted  member  at  Grassy 
Lick: 


LETTER  FROM  YARD  EM  AN.  131 

AT  HOME,  May  ist,  1817. 

DEAR  BROTHER  MASON — I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you 
that  brother  John  Smith,  from  Wayne  County,  will  be  at  Lulbe- 
grud  the  third  Saturday  and  Sunday  in  May,  it  being  the  time  of 
their  yearly  meeting ;  and  on  the  day  following,  will  be  at  Grassy 
Lick.  I  think  it  would  be  to  your  spiritual  interest  to  obtain 
his  labors  at  Grassy  Lick  and  the  neighboring  churches.  I  know 
not  that  he  will  move  his  residence;  but  it  will  not  be  amiss 
to  try  him.  I  am  sorry  that  I  am  so  circumstanced  as  not  to  be 
able  to  visit  you  more  frequently.  It  has  ever  been  a  maxim 
with  me  tp  preach  where  the  prospect  of  usefulness  is  the  most 
flattering;  and  I  am  convinced  that  it  is  my  duty  to  withdraw 
my  stated  labors  from  Montgomery,  at  the  present. 

We  had  a  glorious  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  in  the  course  of 
last  winter  and  this  spring,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Mr.  Daniel 
Bryant's,  South  Elkhorn,  and  Mount  Pleasant  churches.  Up- 
ward, I  suppose,  of  three  hundred  persons  have  been  baptized  on 

the  profession  of  their  faith  in  Christ Their  convictions 

for  sin  were  in  general  awfully  poignant;  and  their  deliverance 
from  guilt  by  the  pardoning  mercy  of  God,  was  no  less  signal. 
A  church  has  recently  been  constituted  in  the  neighborhood 
where  the  work  began;  it  consists  now  probably  of  about  one 
hundred  members.  I  received  a  unanimous  call  to  attend  them ; 
and,  considering  the  raw  and  uncultivated  state  they  were  in,  I 
felt  it  my  duty  to  obey  their  call 

The  great  Mr.  Absalom  Waller,  from  Virginia,  has  lately  ar- 
rived in  these  parts.  I  heard  him  yesterday — much  to  my  satis- 
faction. He  reprobates,  in  the  strongest  terms,  that  antinomian- 
fatality  which  some  seem  to  mistake  for  the  doctrine  of  Grace ; 
calls  upon  all  men  every-where  to  repent  and  believe  the  Gospel, 
as  tneir  bounden  duty — that  there  is  no  impediment  in  the  way 
but  the  want  of  disposition  in  the  sinner,  and  that  such  moral 
inability  is  no  excuse,  etc.  He  is,  in  fine,  a  man  after  my  own 
heart — a  Fullerene 

Permit  me,  my  dear  brother,  to  say  I  am  yours, 

J.  VARDEMAN. 


132  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

The  brethren  of  Montgomery  were  unanimous  in  their 
desire  that  John  Smith  should  become  their  preacher,  and 
they  now  pressed  him  for  a  promise  to  come  and  live 
among  them.  They  proposed  to  aid  him  in  buying  a  farm, 
and  assured  him  that,  in  all  temporal  matters,  he  and  his 
family  should  be  made  comfortable. 

"  I  am  pleased  with  you,  my  brethren,"  Smith  replied, 
"and  I  think  that  I  could  live  happy  among  you.  To  be 
candid,  I  have  no  wish  to  reside  any  longer  where  I  now 
do ;  but  I  have  made  it  a  rule  never  to  engage  in  any  im- 
portant work,  nor  commit  myself  by  any  promise,  till  I  had 
first  counseled  with  my  wife ;  I  never  knew  a  man  to  lose 
any  thing  by  taking  counsel  of  his  wife.  I  must  go  home, 
then,  without  saying  more  to  you  than  this ;  I  will  talk 
with  Nancy,  and  then  give  you  my  answer."  , 

On  his  way  home,  he  stopped  in  the  city  of  Lexington, 
and  preached.  Samuel  Ayers,  a  silversmith  of  that  place, 
a  liberal  man  and  devoted  Baptist,  had  said  to  him  on  a 
previous  visit : 

"  This  is  the  second  time,  brother  Smith,  that  you  have 
preached  for  us  of  late,  and  I  have  never  given  you  any 
thing  yet.  Have  you  any  silver  in  your  pocket  ? " 

"  A  little,"  said  Smith ;  "  I  do  sometimes  have  a  littler 

"  Well,  let  me  have  that,"  said  Ayers,  "  and  I  will  make 
a  set  of  teaspoons  for  your  wife." 

Smith  gave  him  all  he  had,  which  was,  indeed,  but  little. 
His  friend,  however,  added  the  necessary  quantity,  and 
now,  on  this  third  visit,  he  had  the  spoons  ready  for  him. 
Smith  thankfully  accepted  them,  and  took  home  the  beau- 
tiful gift  to  his  wife. 

Nancy  Smith  did  not  fail  to  show  them  to  her  neighbors. 
"They  were  of  pure  silver,"  she  told  them,  "and  had  been 
made  expressly  for  her  by  her  husband's  friend,  who  lived 
in  Lexington."  On  proper  occasions,  when  tea  was  served, 


REMOVES  TO  MONTGOMERY  COUNTY.  133 

whether  of  sassafras  root,  dittany,  or  Young  Hyson  from 
the  store,  she  took  delight,  in  honor  of  her  guests,  to  bring 
out  her  silver  to  grace  her  table,  which  was  plain,  but 
always  beautifully  clean. 

But  the  religious  sentiment  of  her  neighbors  would  not 
long  suffer  her  to  delight  herself  in  that  way.  Sisters  be- 
gan to  take  offense  at  her  departure  from  the  usual  style  of 
living ;  and  brethren,  who  took  an  economical  view  of  the 
matter,  began  to  fear  the  influence  of  her  example.  The 
Elders  finally  took  the  innovation  in  hand,  and  treated  it 
as  a  grave  offense ;  and,  to  save  the  peace  of  the  church, 
and  the  influence  of  her  husband,  the  good  woman  at  last 
put  away  her  spoons,  and  never  used  them  on  the  Little 
South  Fork  again. 

Mrs.  Smith  was  unwilling  to  give  an  opinion  as  to  the 
expediency  of  removing  to  Montgomery ;  and,  feeling  the 
need  of  her  counsel,  her  husband  would  not  act  without  it. 
So  it  was  finally  arranged  for  her  to  go  with  him  in  August, 
on  a  second  visit  to  that  county;  and,  from  their  united 
observations,  to  come  to  some  conclusion  in  the  matter. 

She  was  charmed  with  the  country  and  the  people ;  for 
there  was  not,  at  that  time,  a  nobler  citizenship  in  all  the 
land.  They  accordingly  returned  to  Wayne,  and,  without 
delay,  made  preparations  to  remove.  Their  little  farm, 
with  its  stock  and  crops,  was  sold,  and,  filling  a  wagon  with 
their  household  goods,  they  left  the  Little  South  Fork,  on 
the  22d  of  October,  1817. 


134  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITII. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

» 

Churches    in    Montgomery  County — Their   Characteristics — Smith   settles  on   a 
Farm — Conditions  of  the  Purchase — Moses  Higgins  and  the  Shakers. 

THE  "destitute"  churches  of  Montgomery,  as  Jeremiah 
Vardeman  had  described  them,  whose  united  voices  had, 
at  his  instance,  called  John  Smith  to  be  their  pastor, 
were,  Spencers  Creek,  Lulbegrud,  Old  Bethel,  and  Grassy 
Lick.  These  churches  were  but  a  few  miles  distant  from 
Mount  Sterling,  then  a  thriving  village  of  perhaps  one 
thousand  souls. 

Grassy  Lick  was  in  a  pleasant  part  of  the  county,  five 
miles  north-west  of  the  town.  To  that  church,  Smith  and 
his  wife  presented  their  letters  of  commendation,  and  in 
accordance  with  Baptist  custom,  they  were  cordially  re- 
ceived into  fellowship.  He  at  once  rented  a  small  farm 
and  cabin  near  the  meeting-house,  and  began  his  prepara- 
tions to  raise  a  crop  of  corn.  His  time  was  taken  up  in 
working,  in  preaching,  and  in  studying  the  Word.  The 
influence  of  his  ministry  was  soon  manifest  in  the  growth 
of  the  churches ;  all,  save  Lulbegrud,  immediately  began 
to  receive  accessions.  The  social  and  spiritual  condition, 
however,  even  of  Lulbegrud,  which,  it  will  be  remembered, 
had  been  in  disorder  for  several  years,  was  also  much  im- 
proved, so  that,  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  after  the  ad- 
justment of  her  difficulties,  she  too  rapidly  grew  in  strength 


CHURCHES  IN  MONTGOMERY   COUNTY.  135 

and  numbers,  gaining  in  one  year  more  than  one  hundred 
and  twenty  members. 

He  continued  to  read,  critically,  the  Philadelphia  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  and  to  test  its  truth  by  his  Inspired  Stan- 
dard. His  heart  had  repudiated  the  doctrine  of  infant 
depravity  and  reprobation,  and  on  other  points  he  had 
softened  much  with  Fullerism  ;  but  he  was  still  perplexed 
in  view  of  the  consequences  of  rejecting  any  one  article  of 
his  creed;  for  Calvinism,  he  knew,  was  a  logically  con- 
structed body  of  Divinity,  and  the  unsoundness  of  any 
one  tenet  must  compromise  the  whole  system.  He  deter- 
mined, however,  if  possible,  to  solve  every  knot,  as  he  had 
already  felt  every  cross  and  sting,  of  its  doctrine. 

Each  of  the  churches  that  shared  his  ministry,  had  its 
own  peculiar  religious  temper  and  phase  of  belief.  Lulbe- 
grud  was  firmly  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  truth  as  it 
was  set  forth  in  the  Philadelphia  Confession  of  Faith. 

Spencer  had  been  constituted  about  the  year  1800,  by 
Moses  Bledsoe  and  John  Rice,  on  the  basis  of  the  Scrip- 
tures as  the  only  creed  of  the  Christian.  The  members 
of  that  church  were  generally  Separate  Baptists ;  and 
though  they  had  cordially  entered  into  the  general  union 
in  1801,  they  attached  very  little  importance  to  the  five 
points  of  Calvinism,  or,  in  fact,  to  any  other  speculative 
system  of  belief. 

Grassy  Lick  had,  in  her  communion,  some  men  of  fine 
natural  sense,  of  chaste  religious  sentiment,  and  of  burn- 
ing zeal.  The  names  of  her  fathers  and  early  messengers — 
Joshua  Yeats,  Reuben  McDannold,  William  Jeans,  Henry 
Gaitskill,  Henry  Sanford,  James  Sims,  James  Mason, 
David  Badger,  and  Roger  Clemens — are  associated  with 
the  early  history  of  religion  in  the  North  District.  The 
church  had  enjoyed,  too,  the  regular  or  the  occasional  min- 
istrations of  such  men  as  Moses  Bledsoe,  Lewis  Corbin, 


136  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Ambiose  Dudley,  Jacob  Creath,  and  Jeremiah  Vardeman. 
These  ministers  delighted  to  come  among  the  people  of 
Montgomery,  for  they  were  always  received  with  generous 
hospitality  and  worshipful  regard.  Pious  mothers  taught 
their  children  to  love  and  venerate  these  holy  men,  though 
graceless  youths,  who  dared  not  yet  blaspheme  the  name 
of  God,  often  swore  with  profane  delight  by  such  names 
"  Vardeman"  and  "  Creath."  Almost  every  phase  of  early 
Baptist  sentiment  was  represented  by  these  famous  preach- 
ers ;  for  among  them  were  disciples,  not  only  of  John 
Calvin,  but  of  Andrew  Fuller  and  Shubal  Stearns,  if  not 
of  James  Arminius  himself.  The  people  reflected  the 
same  diversity  of  opinion ;  yet  they  lived  in  peace  as 
brethren,  bound  together  by  a  common  faith  and  a  mutual 
love. 

A  pleasant  and  fruitful  field  of  labor  was  open  to  Smith, 
and  he  went  in  with  strong  confidence,  and  began  his 
work.  In  the  first  year  after  his  removal,  a  committee 
from  the  four  churches  that  were  under  his  charge  was 
authorized  to  select  for  him  a  home  and  farm,  as  central 
as  might  be  to  the  field  of  his  ministerial  labors.  It  was 
understood  that  he  would  make  the  first  payment,  but 
that  the  churches  would  assume  the  remainder  of  the 
debt.  A  farm  of  about  one  hundred  acres,  lying  two  miles 
east  of  Mount  Sterling,  and  valued  at  three  thousand  two 
hundred  dollars,  was  accordingly  bought.  Possession 
would  be  given  in  November;  the  money  which  he  had 
realized  by  the  sale  of  his  little  farm  in  Wayne,  with  a 
small  amount  which  he  had  already  received  for  preach- 
ing, would  enable  him  to  makelhe  first  payment ;  and  he 
never  doubted  for  a  moment  that  his  brethren  would 
promptly  make  the  others. 

Grassy  Lick  enjoyed  that  year,  not  only  his  usual 
monthly  instructions  from  the  pulpit,  but  the  people  were 


MOSES  niGGiNS.  137 

under  his  faithful  watch-care  all  the  time;  and  he  never 
let  an  opportunity  of  doing  them  good  pass  unimproved. 

He  had  a  near  neighbor  by  the  name  of  Moses  Higgins, 
an  amiable  man,  whose  wife  and  daughters  were  members 
of  the  church  at  Grassy  Lick.  Higgins  had  recently 
shown  some  interest  in  religion,  and  his  wife  had  begun 
to  hope  that  the  usual  manifestations  of  Divine  grace 
would  be  vouchsafed  to  him.  But  she  was  distressed  to 
find  that  he  was  only  affected  by  the  representations  of 
certain  Shakers,  who,  in  traveling  through  the  country, 
occasionally  stopped  at  the  house;  for  Higgins  was  rich, 
and  withal  a  hospitable  man.  She  went  to  her  pastor  and 
made  him  acquainted  with  the  facts,  and  begged  him  to 
save  her  husband.  In  a  few  days  afterward,  Higgins  him- 
self called,  and  introduced  the  subject  of  the  new  religion. 

"  Can  you  believe,"  said  Smith  to  him,  "  that  the  resur- 
rection of  the  saints  is  an  accomplished  fact,  and  that  God 
is  now  judging  the  world  through  the  Shakers?  Can  you 
believe  that  they  are  the  people  of  the  resurrection,  as  they 
profess  to  be,  and,  that  being  such,  they  ought  to  put  away 
their  wives,  and  live  as  the  angels  of  God  ? " 

"These  things,  Mr.  Smith,"  replied  he,  "they  deny  to 
me ;  they  say  that  they  are  but  the  lies  of  the  world.  Two 
of  them  stayed  with  me  the  other  night  on  their  road  to 
Daniel  Dunlavy's." 

Daniel  Dunlavy,  who  lived  on  Spencer's  Creek,  was  a 
brother  of  the  celebrated  John  Dunlavy ;  about  that  time 
he  became  a  proselyte  to  the  faith  of  his  brother. 

"Then  they  will  be  at  your  house  again  very  soon," 
said  Smith ;  "  and  when  they  come,  send  me  word,  and  I 
will  talk  over  all  these  things  with  them  in  your  presence." 

In  a  short  time,  he  received  a  message  from  his  neigh- 
bor that  the  Shakers  were  again  at  his  house.  He  went 
over  in  the  evening,  after  his  work  was  done,  and  there 
12 


138  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

met  James  Congleton  and  Thomas  Rule.  He  remembered 
James  as  an  amiable  and  intelligent  man  with  whom  he 
had  discussed  these  very  doctrines  at  Shakertown,  in  the 
winter  of  1815.  Suspecting  that  they  had  concealed  from 
Higgins  their  more  objectionable  tenets,  he  determined  to 
extort  an  acknowledgment  of  them  in  his  hearing. 

"Well,  James,"  said  Smith,  "you  still  believe  that  you 
are  in  the  Resurrection?  Have  you  not  learned  better 
yet?" 

"Nay,  John,"  said  he,  promptly,  and  without  the  least 
effort  to  conceal  his  faith,  "we  are  still  firmly  persuaded 
of  the  fact." 

This  point  was  then  argued  at  length  ;  other  questions 
were  discussed,  and  Higgins  saw  plainly  that  he  had  not 
understood  their  teachings.  The  conversation  was  inter- 
rupted, and  he  left  the  room  for  a  while. 

"  Are  you  now  satisfied,  Moses  ? "  said  Smith,  who  fol- 
lowed him  to  the  door. 

"Yes,"  said  Higgins,  "I  see  that  I  have  greatly  mis- 
taken their  views  and  practices." 

"  Now,"  continued  Smith,  "  I  do  not  like  to  be  rude  any- 
where, especially  in  a  neighbor's  house ;  but  they  insist, 
as  a  chief  item  of  their  profession,  that  they  have  cruci- 
fied the  flesh,  and  all  that  pertains  to  the  first  Adam ;  I 
would  like,  Moses,  to  put  them  to  the  test.  They  say, 
for  instance,  that  they  can  not  get  angry  under  the  se- 
verest provocations.  I  wish  to  convince  you  that  they 
are  nothing  but  men  at  last,  in  all  things  whatever,  save  in 
putting  away  their  wives.  I  think  I  can  make  them  mad." 

"Try  it,  then,  and  let  me  see  it  done,"  said  Higgins. 

They  were  called  to  supper,  and  were  soon  seated  to- 
gether at  the  table.  Smith  was  requested  by  the  host  to 
give  thanks  for  what  they  were  about  to  receive,  which  he 
did  ;  but  James  politely  asked  whether  he  and  Thomas 


A   MAD  SHAKER.  139 

could  be  permitted,  without  giving  offense,  "to  do  their 
own  way. "  They  fell  on  their  knees,  remained  silent  for  a 
minute,  and  then  arose. 

"What  were  you  about  just  now,  Thomas?"  inquired 
Smith,  selecting  Rule  as  the  subject  for  his  experiment ; 
for  he  judged,  from  his  physiognomy,  that  he  was  less 
spiritual  than  James. 

"  Giving  thanks,  John,"  said  Thomas. 

"  How  do  we  know  that  you  did  not  pray  that  this  food 
might  become  poison  to  us  ? " 

"  Nay,  nay,  John ! " 

"  I  do  n't  believe,  anyhow,  that  you  ever  abandoned,  or 
even  confessed,  one-half  of  your  sins  when  you  went  to 
Shakertown." 

"  Yea,  John." 

"  I  do  not  believe  a  word  of  it,"  said  Smith,  with  assumed 
earnestness. 

"  Why,  John  ? "  asked  Thomas,  with  some  surprise,  and 
a  little  rising  temper. 

"  For  two  reasons,"  said  Smith ;  "  first,  you  could  not 
have  recollected  one-half  of  them  ;  and  secondly,  if  you 
had  confessed  them  all,  I  do  not  know  but  that  they  would 
have  preferred  putting  you  in  the  penitentiary  to  receiv- 
ing you  into  their  society. " 

At  this  word  Thomas  sprang  from  the  table,  and 
stamped  the  floor  in  his  anger,  exclaiming : 

"  You  are  a  rascal,  sir ! " 

For  a  moment  Smith  was  disconcerted  ;  for  he  had  ex- 
cited more  anger  than  he  wished.     But,  remembering  the 
purpose  of  his  jest,  he  pointed  his  finger  across  the  table 
at  the  raging  Thomas,  and  tauntingly  exclaimed  : 
'  A  mad  Shaker,  Moses !     A  mad  angel ! " 

James,  who  had  preserved  his  self-control,  now  pulled 
Thomas  down  and  quieted  him. 


140  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"Keep  your  seat,"  said  he,  calmly.  "John,  you  must 
take  all  that  back." 

"  When  I  give  a  man  what  justly  belongs  to  him,  James," 
said  Smith,  "I  never  take  it  back." 

At  this,  they  both  withdrew  from  the  table,  and  sat  in 
silence  near  the  wall.  After  supper,  of  which  they  refused 
to  partake,  Smith  approached  them  in  a  conciliatory  man- 
ner, and,  rehearsing  the  incidents  of  the  evening,  explained 
frankly  his  design. 

"  My  motive,  James,  was  a  good  one,"  said  he  ;  "  for  it 
was  to  save  my  friend  Higgins  here  from  a  delusion  as 
ruinous,  in  my  judgment,  to  the  peace  of  his  family  as  to 
himself.  If  I  have  done  wrong,  I  hope  you  will  forgive 
me.  But  it  was  necessary  that  I  should  satisfy  him,  who 
had  almost  become  your  proselyte,  that  you  were  but  men, 
and  not  angels,  as  he  had  begun  to  imagine.  I  sincerely 
hope  that  the  end  proposed  has  been  accomplished.  And 
now  let  me  beseech  you,  James,  to  awake  from  this  same 
delusion  yourself.  You  are  capable  of  becoming  a  useful 
man  in  any  community.  Let  me  advise  you — yes,  beg 
you — James,  to  go  and  get  your  wife  and  children,  and 
come  away  from  that  place." 

James  bowed  his  head  in  silence,  and,  resting  his  fore- 
head in  his  hand,  looked  solemnly  down  upon  the  floor,  as 
if  impressed  with  the  exhortation.  Encouraged  by  his 
manner,  Smith  continued  to  exhort  him,  with  many  earnest 
and  affectionate  words,  to  save  himself  from  his  infatuation. 
Still  his  Shaker  friend  sat,  and  never  raised  his  eyes  from 
the  floor,  or  said  a  word  in  reply.  Moved  by  his  own  feel- 
ings, Smith  drew  closer  to  him,  and  continued  to  argue 
and  to  persuade,  until  the  hopeful  tears  gathered  in  his 
eyes.  Supposing  at  last  that  he  had  really  touched  the 
Shaker's  heart,  and  opened  his  eyes  to  his  error,  he  arose 


NEARLY   OUTWITTED.  14! 

from  his  seat,  and  took  his  still  silent  friend  affectionately 
by  the  hand. 

"  James,  I  must  now  go ;  but  before  I  leave  you,  my 
dear  friend,  I  want  you  to  assure  me  with  your  own  lips, 
not  only  that  you  forgive  me  for  my  rudeness  this  even- 
ing, but  that  I  shall  soon  welcome  you  to  your  friends  and 
to  society  again,  where  you  can  be  so  happy  and  so  useful 
in  the  cause  of  our  common  Master." 

"  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan ! "  exclaimed  James,  snatch- 
ing his  hand  from  the  grasp  of  the  astounded  pastor,  and 
fixing  a  hard  look  upon  him  ;  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Sa- 
tan ! "  and  he  folded  his  arms  in  sullen  dignity,  and  sat 
defiant  as  a  rock. 

"Thomas!"  cried  Smith,"  "did  n't  you  hear  him  ?  He 
says,  Get  tlue  behind  him  !"  and,  seizing  the  morose  Thomas 
by  the  arms,  he  thrust  him  behind  the  imperturbable 
James,  and  immediately  left  the  room. 

He  took  his  hat,  and,  bidding  his  friend  and  host  good- 
night, went  home.  He  had  been,  for  once,  almost  out- 
witted ;  but  he  had  saved  his  neighbor,  and  the  peace  of 
his  neighbor's  family;  for  early  next  morning,  before 
breakfast,  the  Shakers  saddled  their  horses,  and  went 
away;  nor  did  they  ever  call  at  Moses  Higgins's  again. 


142 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

Financial  Difficulties — Visit  to  Alabama — Stockton's  Valley — Doctrinal  Doubts 
and  Struggles. 

IN  November,  1818,  Smith  moved  to  his  farm  near 
Mount  Sterling.  Before  his  second  note  became  due, 
hard  times  had  set  in  ;  a  great  financial  distress,  unpre- 
cedented in  the  history  of  the  country,  had  come  upon 
the  people,  and  debts  of  all  kinds  went  undischarged. 
The  churches  paid  him  nothing;  so  that  he  could  do  no 
more  than  parry  his  debt  for  awhile,  working  as  he  had 
never  done  before,  to  meet  the  interest  on  his  notes. 
His  hope  was,  that  when  the  present  distress  was  over, 
his  brethren  would  come  forward  and  fulfill  their  promises. 
In  this  hope,  he  toiled  on,  and  preached  for  them  with 
unabated  zeal.  He  had  not  tried  to  conceal  the  fact  that 
doctrinal  doubts  and  difficulties  perplexed  him ;  for  he  had 
frankly  acknowledged  these  things  to  his  brethren.  But 
he  little  expected  that  his  honest  avowal  would  be  made 
the  ground  for  repudiating  all  their  promises.  The  cred- 
itor who  held  his  second  note  at  length  sold  it  out  to  par- 
ties in  the  shape  of  drafts  upon  him.  He  begged  them, 
as  the  churches  paid  him  nothing,  'and  times  were  very 
hard,  to  secure  themselves  by  a  mortgage  on  his  land. 
But  this  they  refused  to  do,  preferring  to  take  his  word 
without  security. 


INDEBTEDNESS   RELIEVED.  143 

Finally,  one  who  held  his  obligation  for  five  hundred 
dollars,  became  bankrupt ;  his  note  passed  into  the  hands 
of  others,  and  payment  was  demanded.  He  was  about  to 
relinquish  his  home  and  every  thing  he  had,  in  order  to 
extricate  himself  from  debt,  when  Colonel  Williams,  of 
Mount  Sterling,  proposed  to  go  with  him  into  the  Com- 
monwealth's Bank,  borrow  the  money,  and  pay  off  all  that 
he  owed.  Smith  agreed  to  this  arrangement  on  condition 
that  his  friend  would  secure  himself  by  a  mortgage.  This, 
however,  he  would  not  do ;  and  Smith,  at  last,  consented 
to  transfer  his  indebtedness  to  the  bank. 

Soon  after  this,  perhaps  in  the  summer  of  1820,  he 
gratified  a  wish  long  felt,  and  went  to  visit  his  friends  in 
Alabama.  He  found  their  hearts  as  full  of  kindness  toward 
him  as  when  he  lay  in  his  lonesome  cabin  in  the  Hickory 
Flats,  stricken  of  God,  and  helpless.  Many  changes  had 
taken  place  in  the  country,  and  among  the  people.  The 
wilderness  had  bloomed,  and  mansions  had  arisen,  but  not 
for  him.  Others  had  realized  his  dreams,  and  grown  rich 
by  speculation ;  for  the  Lord  had  sent  neither  fire  nor 
sickness  upon  them.  Yet  he  looked  on  their  prosperity 
without  envy  or  regret.  He  remained  in  Alabama  but  a 
short  time,  and  soon  turned  his  face  homeward,  now  more 
than  ever  persuaded  that  all  his  afflictions  had  been  sent 
upon  him  in  love. 

He  hurried  forward  to  be  at  the  meeting  of  the  Stock- 
ton's Valley  Association,  which  was  to  be  held  with  the 
Clear  Fork  church,  near  his  old  home,  in  Clinton  (then 
Cumberland)  County,  Kentucky.  He  reached  the  meet- 
ing-house on  Saturday  morning,  after  the  introductory  ex- 
ercises had  commenced.  A  large  concourse  of  people  had 
assembled.  Suddenly  appearing  among  his  old  friends 
and  neighbors,  many  of  whom  he  had  not  seen  for  years 
and  begrimed  with  the  dust  of  a  week's  travel,  he  was 


144 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


hardly  recognized.  But  when  he  entered  the  house,  some 
one  exclaimed,  "  John  Smith ! "  and  he  was  welcomed  with 
disorderly  greeting.  The  people  rushed  from  their  seats  to 
grasp  his  hand,  and  to  tell  him  how  happy  they  were  to 
see  him.  Tired  as  he  was  from  his  long  journey — and  he 
had  ridden  that  morning  twenty-five  miles  on  horseback, 
crossing  two  rivers,  and  climbing  over  a  ridge  of  the  Cum- 
berland Mountains — they,  nevertheless,  compelled  him  to 
preach  that  day  at  the  meeting-house,  and  again,  at  night, 
at  his  brother  Philip's. 

On  the  next  day,  he  was  constrained  to  speak  from  a 
rostrum  in  the  grove.  A  stand  had  been  erected,  says  an 
eye-witness,*  in  a  beautiful  valley  opening  toward  the  west, 
through  which  a  rill  of  bright  water  rippled  for  a  short 
way,  and  then  fell  into  Clear  Fork  Creek.  In  this  stream 
he  had  been  immersed  by  Isaac  Denton,  nearly  sixteen 
years  before.  Close  by,  still  stood  the  "bid  log  meeting- 
house, in  which  he  had  told  his  experience.  A  few  steps 
from  the  stand,  at  the  base  of  a  rocky  hill,  bubbled  the 
spring  from  which  he  had  so  often  drunk  in  days  gone  by. 
Not  far  off,  were  the  home  of  his  boyhood  and  the  ever-re- 
membered spice-wood  thicket,  in  which  he  had  caught  the 
first  glimpse  of  Jehovah's  glory.  Behind  him,  on  the  plat- 
form, sat  his  old  pastor,  Isaac  Denton,  his  brother  Jona- 
than, now  a  preacher,  Stephen  Collier,  and  many  other 
ministers.  Before  him  were  his  old  mother,  his  brothers 
and  sisters,  and  relatives,  and  all  the  friends  of  his  youth, 
who  loved  him  as  few  men  have  ever  been  loved ;  while 
hundreds  of  strangers  gathered  around  the  stand  to  see 
and  to  hear  him.  The  day  was  fine ;  the  September  breeze 
freshened  through  the  oaks  around,  and  every  thing  was  in- 
spiring. He  preached  from  Romans  iii :  31:  "  Do  we 


*  Elder  Isaac  T.  Reneau. 


DOUBTS  AND  STRUGGLES.  145 

make  void  the  law  through  faith  ?  God  forbid.  Yea,  we 
establish  the  law."  There  was  every  thing  to  arouse  the 
speaker,  and  he  was  eloquent.  The  congregation  sat  or 
stood  in  breathless  silence,  for  they  seemed  to  be  spell- 
bound, while  he  denned  and  illustrated  the  power  of  the 
Christian's  faith.  Isaac  Denton,  in  after  years,  often  al- 
luded to  that  discourse,  saying  it  was  the  best  that  John 
Smith  ever  delivered ;  but  he  always  added,  that,  even  at 
that  time,  he  suspected  him  of  some  sort  of  heresy. 

Smith  returned  home,  and,  not  long  afterward,  publicly 
avowed  his  dissatisfaction  with  the  doctrinal  system  under 
which  he  had  been  raised.  On  a  certain  occasion,  in  March, 
1822,  at  Spencer's  Creek,  he  was  urging  sinners  to  repent, 
and  to  believe  the  Gospel.  "  Jesus  died  for  you,"  said  he ; 
"  but  if  you  believe  not,  you  must  be  damned."  His  mind  was 
suddenly  confused  with  the  thought  that,  if  the  elect  should 
not  believe,  his  preaching  was  false,  for  they  would  not  be 
damned  ;  and,  if  the  non-elect  should  believe,  their  faith 
would  be  false,  for,  according  to  his  creed,  Christ  did  not 
die  for  them.  Must  the  non-elect,  then,  thought  he,  be 
damned  for  not  believing  what  is  false?  Or  the  elect 
be  saved,  though  denying  the  truth  ?  Too  honest  thus  to 
exhort  the  people  any  longer,  he  closed  his  address. 

"  Brethren,"  said  he,  "  something  is  wrong — I  am  in  the 
dark — we  are  all  in  the  dark ;  but  how  to  lead  you  to  the 
light,  or  to  find  the  way  myself,  before  God,  I  know  not." 

He  took  his  seat.  The  song  hardly  arose  from  the  lips 
of  the  congregation  ;  but  a  prayer  for  light  went  up  in  that 
hour  from  the  honest  heart  of  John  Smith,  that  was  heard 
in  heaven  by  the  Father  of  lights  and  Author  of  all  truth. 

The  crowd  dispersed,  and  he  went  directly,  but  silently 

home,  as  if  he  would  find  in  the  sacredness  of  that  humble 

spot,  and  in  the  counsel  of  his  wife,  some  ray  of  light  to 

dispel  the  darkness  from  his  mind.     Into  the  bosom  of 

13 


146  LIFE   OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

that  wife — so  often  his  strength  in  weakness  and  his  com- 
fort in  trouble — he  poured  the  confusion  of  his  thoughts. 
They  bowed  down  together  in  prayer ;  and,  while  he 
begged  for  light,  he  pledged  himself,  both  to  heaven  and 
to  her,  that  he  would  take  God's  Word  as  his  only  oracle, 
examine  it  carefully,  and,  calling  no  man  master,  follow  its 
teachings,  wherever  they  might  lead  him. 

From  the  hour  in  which  that  prayer  went  up,  and  that 
pledge  was  given,  we  must  date  the  commencement  of  that 
religious  revolution  which  John  Smith  contributed  so  much 
to  bring  about  in  the  old  North  District.  Faithful  to  that 
pledge,  and  in  the  love  of  the  truth,  he  again  began  a  most 
earnest  and  systematic  investigation  of  the  Scriptures. 
When  the  work  of  the  day  was  done,  and  he  would  come  in 
from  field  or  forest  at  night,  he  would  sit  by  his  candle 
and  ponder  the  questions  that  interested  him,  sometimes, 
till  the  day  broke  and  called  him  out  to  labor  again. 

He  soon  saw  that  the  doctrine  of  Personal  Election  and 
Reprobation,  which  had  so  much  embarrassed  him,  grew 
out  of  the  dogma  that  the  Holy  Spirit  must  supernaturally 
convert  men  to  God.  This  dogma,  he  saw,  rested  on  the 
assumption  that  the  sinner  is  dead — dead  in  such  a  sense 
that  he  can  not  believe  the  Gospel,  or  repent  of  his  sins 
until  the  Spirit  quickens  him  into  life  ;  that,  consequently, 
as  all  men  are  not  brought  to  life,  the  Spirit  must  pass  by 
some,  and  allow  them  to  perish — not  on  account  of  their 
greater  unworthiness,  however,  but  simply  because  God 
in  his  own  good  pleasure  did  not  elect  them  to  eternal  life. 
For  these  Christ  could  not  have  died,  else  he  would  have 
died  in  vain.  He  saw,  finally,  that  the  entire  superstruct- 
ure of  Calvinism,  as  he  had  held  and  preached  it,  was 
based  on  the  notion  that  moral  death  destroys  man's  free 
agency.  Calvinism,  he  reasoned,  depends  at  last  on  the 
definition  of  a  single  term.  "  What,  then,  is  this  death?" 


CONCLUSION  REACHED.  147 

he  asked,  as  the  candle  burned  to  the  socket  on  his  little 
stand  at  midnight — and  the  peace  of  a  hundred  churches 
hung  on  his  answer  to  the  question ! 

Christians,  too,  are  said  to  be  dead — dead  to  sin.  Does 
this  death,  he  inquired,  take  from  them  the  power  to  sin  ? 
May  they,  as  free  agents,  still  embrace  error  and  do  wrong  ? 
If,  then,  the  Christian,  who  is  dead  to  sin,  can  neverthe- 
less do  wrong,  surely  the  sinner,  who  is  dead  to  righteous- 
ness, may  nevertheless  do  right. 

When  that  conclusion  was  firmly  grasped,  he  felt  per- 
suaded that  the  system  which  he  had  so  long  preached, 
was  but  a  wind  of  doctrine  without  substantial  basis. 

Such  was  the  state  of  his  mind,  when  a  friend  put  into 
his  hand  the  prospectus  of  a  religious  paper  called  The 
Christian  Baptist,  edited  by  Alexander  Campbell,  of  Buf- 
falo Creek,  Brooke  County,  Virginia. 


148  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

Thomas  and  Alexander  Campbell — The  Christian  Association  of  Washington, 
Pa. — The  Declaration  and  Address — Thought  Awakened — What  Consti- 
tutes Christian  Baptism — Alexander  Campbell  Debates  with  Walker  and 
McCalla — The  Christian  Baptist — John  Smith  Interested — Extracts — His 
Critical  Investigations  Result  in  Truth — Accepts  Doctrine  from  no  Man. 

THOMAS  CAMPBELL,  the  father  of  Alexander  Campbell, 
had  long  been  a  minister  of  high  standing  among  the 
leaders  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  North  of  Ire- 
land. He  emigrated  to  America,  in  1807,  and  settled  in 
Washington  County,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  continued  to 
labor  as  a  minister  among  the  destitute  congregations  of 
his  own  faith  and  order. 

Deploring  the  distracted  condition  of  the  religious  world, 
and  convinced  that  its  divisions  were  unscriptural,  and  in- 
jurious to  society,  he  resolved  to  make  a  public  effort  to 
restore  the  original  unity  of  the  Church. 

A  meeting  was  called,  to  be  held  at  Buffalo,  August  i/th, 
1809,*  consisting  of  persons  of  different  religious  denomi- 
nations, most  of  them  in  an  unsettled  state  as  to  a  fixed 
Gospel  ministry.  After  full  conference,  it  was  unani- 
mously agreed  to  form  a  religious  association,  to  be  called 
the  "  Christian  Association  of  Washington,  Pennsylvania." 
A  committee  of  twenty-one  was  appointed  to  meet  and 


*  Memoirs  of  Thomas  Campbell. 


DECLARATION  AND  ADDRESS.  149 

confer  together,  and,  with  the  assistance  of  Elder  Thomas 
Campbell,  to  determine  upon  the  proper  means  to  carry 
into  effect  the  ends  of  the  Association  ;  the  result  of  which 
conference  was  the  drawing  up  of  a  Declaration  and  Ad- 
dress, which  was  agreed  upon  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 

This  Declaration  and  Address  was  not  designed  to  be 
the  constitution  of  a  church ;  "but  it  was  simply  a  declara- 
tion of  a  purpose  to  institute  a  society  of  voluntary  advo- 
cates of  church  reformation.  The  sole  purpose  of  this 
organization  was  to  promote  simple,  evangelical  Chris- 
tianity ;  and  for  this  end  they  resolved  to  countenance  and 
support  only  those  ministers  who  practiced  that  simple, 
original  form  of  Christianity,  expressly  exhibited  in  the 
sacred  page ;  who  would  inculcate  nothing  of  human  au- 
thority, of  private  opinion,  or  of  inventions  of  men,  as 
having  any  place  in  the  constitution,  faith,  or  worship  of 
the  Christian  Church  ;  who  would,  in  a  word,  teach  nothing 
as  a  matter  of  Christian  faith  or  duty,  for  which  there  could 
not  be  produced  a  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  either  in  express 
terms,  or  by  approved  precedent. 

Alexander  Campbell,  after  spending  some  months  at  the 
University  of  Glasgow,  followed  his  father  to  America,  and 
reached  Washington  in  October,  1809,  just  in  time  to  read 
the  proof-sheets  of  the  Declaration  and  Address.  He 
heartily  joined  in  the  effort  to  unite  the  churches  on  this 
basis  of  a  simple,  evangelical  Christianity. 

A  congregation  was  soon  formed  and  constituted  on  the 
principles  set  forth  in  the  Declaration.  A  house  of  worship 
was  erected,  and  ministerial  duties  were  regularly  per- 
formed conjointly  by  father  and  son,  who  had  been  duly 
ordained  pastors  of  the  church. 

The  doctrine  of  weekly  communion  in  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per being  acknowledged  and  practiced  in  this  congrega- 
tion, its  incongruity  with  infant  church  membership  became, 


I5O  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

to  Alexander's  mind,  more  and  more  apparent  He  began 
to  press  upon  his  father's  attention  also,  the  incongruity  of 
thus  demanding  an  express  precept  or  precedent  for  every 
ordinance,  and  yet  practicing  infant  baptism,  for  which 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other  could  be  produced.  For  some 
time,  however,  his  respect  for  his  father's  judgment  held 
him  in  abeyance. 

Finally,  the  subject  was  formally  introduced  and  dis- 
cussed, the  whole  question  was  examined  thoroughly  and 
impartially,  and  Alexander  became  fully  convinced,  not 
only  that  the  practice  of  infant  sprinkling  could  not  be 
sustained  by  Scripture  evidence,  but  that  immersion  in 
water,  upon  a  profession  of  faith  in  Christ,  alone  consti- 
tuted Christian  baptism.  He  immediately  made  known  to 
his  father  the  conclusions  at  which  he  had  arrived,  and  his 
determination  to  be  immersed.  Thomas  Campbell,  influ- 
enced, doubtless,  by  the  example  of  his  favorite  son,  now 
examined  the  subject  with  more  care,  and  finally  yielded 
the  point.  On  the  I2th  of  June,  1812,  with  several  other 
members  of  the  Brush  Run  congregation,  they  were  both 
immersed  by  Elder  Mathias  Luse,  of  the  Baptist  com- 
munity. 

This  occurrence,  of  course,  caused  a  division  in  the  con- 
gregation. Those  who  were  attached  to  infant  baptism,  or 
opposed  to  immersion,  withdrew  from  the  church ;  the  re- 
mainder, as  a  congregation  of  immersed  believers,  were 
received  into  the  Red  Stone  Baptist  Association.  It  was 
carefully  stipulated  at  the  time,  however,  that  "no  terms 
of  union  or  communion,  other  than  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
should  be  required." 

*  "  From  the  moment  that  Thomas  Campbell  concluded 
to  follow  the  example  of  his  son,  in  relation  to  baptism, 


*  Memoirs  of  Alexander  Campbell,  vol.  i,  p.  401. 


CAMPBELL  AND  WALKER  DEBATE.  15 1 

he  conceded  to  him,  in  effect,  the  guidance  of  the  whole 
religious  movement." 

Alexander,  as  messenger  of  the  church  at  Brush  Run, 
made  use  of  his  many  opportunities  to  present  to  his  Bap- 
tist brethren  his  view  of  the  ancient  Gospel,  and  to  urge 
its  acceptance  upon  them.  While  his  doctrine  was  in- 
dorsed by  some,  he  excited  considerable  stir  in  the  Asso- 
ciation, especially  by  his  opposition  to  creeds,  and. to  the 
assumed  jurisdiction  of  that  body  over  the  churches.  But 
it  was  more  especially  a  sermon,  delivered  before  the  As- 
sociation in  1816,  on  Romans  viii:3,  known  as  his  "Ser- 
mon on  the  Law,"  that  created  the  greatest  sensation,  and 
aroused  against  him  the  most  violent  opposition.  His  de- 
sign in  that  discourse  was  to  show  that  Christians  are  not 
under  the  law  to  Moses,  but  to  Christ.  In  doing  this,  how- 
ever, he  maintained,  contrary  to  the  received  doctrine,  that 
there  was  no  necessity  for  preaching  the  Law,  in  order  to 
prepare  one  for  receiving  the  Gospel. 

Notwithstanding  the  opposition  which  he  had  thus  pro- 
voked, he  was  chosen  to  debate  the  subject  of  baptism  with 
Mr.  Walker,  in  1821  ;  of  which  debate  two  editions  were 
soon  published.  Still,  opposition  to  him  was  manifest  every 
year,  with  increasing  bitterness,  in  the  Red  Stone  Asso- 
ciation, until,  finally,  he  determined  to  withdraw  from  them. 
The  church  at  Brush  Run  agreed  to  dismiss  about  thirty 
of  her  members,  including  Mr.  Campbell,  to  Wellsburg, 
where  they  constituted  a  new  church.  They  were,  some 
time  afterward,  admitted  into  the  Mahoning  Association, 
of  Ohio — a  body  of  Christians  distinguished  for  their  liber- 
ality of  feeling  and  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures. 

Believing  that  his  discussion  with  Mr.  Walker  on  the 
subject  of  baptism  had  been  beneficial  to  the  cause  of  truth, 
he  was  induced  to  debate  the  same  question  with  Mr. 
McCalla,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  whom  he  accordingly 


152  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

met  at  Washington,  Kentucky,  in  the  autumn  of  1823.  In 
that  debate  Mr.  Campbell  contended  that  baptism,  or  im- 
mersion, is  a  divine  institution,  designed  to  put  the  legiti- 
mate subject  of  it  into  actual  possession  of  the  remission 
of  his  sins ;  that  to  every  believing  subject  it  did  formally 
and  in  fact  convey  to  him  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  He 
subsequently  remarked,  in  reference  to  this  matter,  that  it 
was  with  much  hesitation  that  he  presented  this  view  of 
the  subject  at  that  time,  because  of  its  perfect  novelty.  He 
was  then  assured  of  its  truth ;  but  it  was  subsequent  to  that 
period  that  he  developed  more  fully  the  import  of  the  de- 
claration, that  baptism  is  for  the  remission  of  sins.* 

The  debate  at  Washington  was  listened  to  with  much 
interest ;  for  the  publication  of  the  "  Sermon  on  the  Law," 
and  of  the  "  Debate  with  Walker,"  had  already  given  to 
Mr.  Campbell  great  reputation  among  the  Baptists  as  a 
man  of  learning  and  power.  In  fact,  Jeremiah  Vardeman, 
whose  word  at  that  time  was  authority,  declared,  that  if  all 
the  Baptist  preachers  in  Kentucky  were  put  into  one,  they 
would  not  make  an  Alexander  Campbell ! 

In  the  meantime,  Mr.  Campbell  had  commenced  the 
publication  of  a  monthly  paper,  with  the  design  to  "restore 
a  pure  speech  to  the  people  of  God — to  restore  the  ancient 
order  of  things  in  the  Christian  kingdom — to  emancipate 
the  conscience  from  the  dominion  of  human  authority  in 
matters  of  religion,  and  to  lay  an  imperishable  foundation 
for  the  union  of  all  Christians,  and  for  their  co-operation  in 
spreading  the  Gospel  throughout  the  world." 

In  the  prospectus,  which  he  issued  in  the  spring  of  1823, 
he  says :  "  The  Christian  Baptist  shall  espouse  the  cause 
of  no  religious  sect,  excepting  that  ancient  sect  called 
Christians  first  at  Antioch.  Its  sole  object  shall  be  the 


*  Christian  Baptist,  vol.  5,  p.  121. 


READS  THE  CHRISTIAN  BAPTIST.  153 

eviction  of  truth,  and  the  exposure  of  error  in  doctrine 
and  practice.  The  editor,  acknowledging  no  standard  of 
religious  faith  or  works,  other  than  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments, and  the  latter  as  the  only  standard  of  the  religion 
of  Jesus  Christ,  will,  intentionally  at  least,  oppose  nothing 
which  it  contains,  and  recommend  nothing  which  it  does 
not  enjoin." 

John  Smith  received  a  copy  of  the  prospectus  soon  after 
the  debate  with  McCalla,  and  he  read  it  with  profound 
interest.  He  ordered  the  paper  to  be  sent  to  him,  and  in- 
duced a  few  others  to  subscribe  for  it.  He  hoped,  from 
the  reputation  of  Mr.  Campbell  as  a  man  of  learning  and 
piety,  that  his  discussion  of  Scriptural  themes  would  greatly 
assist  him  in  arriving  at  a  solution  of  his  own  doctrinal 
difficulties. 

He  had  now  fully  persuaded  himself  that  the  system  of 
religion  embodied  in  the  Philadelphia  Confession  of  Faith 
was  unscriptural.  He  had  examined  all  the  modified  phases 
of  Calvinism,  and  found  that  he  could  accept  none  of  them 
as  being  in  full  harmony  with  the  Word  of  God.  The 
Arian,  Socinian,  and  Universalian  theories  had  all  been 
likewise  considered  and  rejected.  Yet,  he  felt  assured  that 
the  truth  must  be  found  somewhere  among  the  systems  of 
the  day.  In  this  belief,  he  had  resolved  to  select  from  each 
such  tenets  as  he  could  approve,  and  unite  them  into  a 
system  of  his  own,  which  should  be  consistent  with  itself, 
and  accordant  with  the  Word  of  God.  On  this  vain  task 
he  was  wasting  his  fine  powers,  when  the  first  few  numbers 
of  the  Christian  Baptist  reached  him.  He  hastily  glanced 
through  its  small,  solid  pages  to  learn  what,  at  that  time, 
he  .was  most  curious  to  know — whether  the  editor  was  a 
Calvinist,  a  Fullerite,  or  an  Arminian.  He  did  not  dream 
that  it  was  possible  for  a  man,  especially  a  learned  man,  to 
be  a  Christian,  and  yet  belong  to  no  religious  party ;  for  he 


154  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

had,  as  yet,  no  conception  of  an  undenominational  Chris- 
tianity. But,  instead*  of  meeting  with  elaborate  essays  on 
the  perplexing  dogmas  of  the  day,  he  read  with  variable 
feelings  of  pleasure,  surprise,  and  painful  suspicion,  such 
passages  as  the  following: 

To  convert  the  heathen  to  the  popular  Christianity  of  these 
times  would  be  an  object  of  no  great  consequence,  as  the  popular 
Christians  themselves,  for  the  most  part,  require  to  be  converted 
to  the  Christianity  of  the  New  Testament. 
******* 

The  societies  called  churches,  constituted  and  set  in  order  by 
the  ministers  of  the  New  Testament,  were  of  such  as  received 
and  acknowledged  Jesus  as  Lord  Messiah,  the  Savior  of  the 
world,  and  had  put  themselves  under  his  guidance.  The  only 
bond  of  union  among  them,  was  faith  in  him,  and  submission  to 
his  will.  No  subscription  to  abstract  propositions,  framed  by 
synods;  no  decrees  of  councils,  sanctioned  by  kings;  no  rules 
of  practice,  commanded  by  ecclesiastical  courts,  were  imposed 
on  them  as  terms  of  admission  into,  or  of  continuance  in,  this 
holy  brotherhood.  In  the  apostles'  doctrine,  and  in  the  apostles' 
commandments,  they  steadfastly  continued.  Their  fraternity  was 
a  fraternity  of  love,  peace,  gratitude,  cheerfulness,  joy,  charity, 
and  universal  benevolence.  Their  religion  did  not  manifest  itself 
in  public  fasts  nor  carnivals.  They  had  no  festivals,  no  great  and 
solemn  meetings.  Their  meeting  on  the  first  day  of  the  week 
was  at  all  times  alike  solemn,  joyful,  and  interesting. 

Their  religion  was  not  of  that  elastic  and  porous  kind,  which 
at  one  time  is  compressed  into  some  cold  formalities,  and  at 
another  expanded  into  prodigious  zeal  and  warmth.  No;  their 
piety  did  not  at  one  time  rise  to  paroxysms,  and  their  zeal  to 
effervescence,  and,  by  and  by,  languish  into  frigid  ceremony  and 
lifeless  form.  It  was  the  pure,  clear,  and  swelling  current  of 
love  to  God,  of  love  to  man,  expressed  in  all  the  variety  of  do- 
ing good. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHRISTIAN  BAPTIST.  155 

The  order  of  their  assemblies  was  uniformly  the  same.  It  did 
not  vary  with  moons  and  seasons.  It  did  not  change,  as  dress, 
nor  fluctuate,  as  the  manners  of  the  times.  Their  devotion  did 
not  diversify  itself  into  the  endless  forms  of  modern  times.  They 
had  no  monthly  concerts  for  prayer;  no  solemn  convocations; 
no  great  fasts,  nor  preparation,  nor  thanksgiving  days.  Their 
churches  were  not  fractured  into  missionary  societies,  Bible  so- 
cieties, education  societies;  nor  did  they  dream  of  organizing 
such  in  the  world.  The  head  of  a  believing  household  was  not, 
in  those  days,  a  president  or  manager  of  a  board  of  foreign  mis- 
sions; his  wife,  the  president  of  some  female  education  society; 
his  eldest  son,  the  recording  secretary  of  some  domestic  Bible 
society;  his  eldest  daughter,  the  corresponding  secretary  of  a 
mite  society;  his  servant-maid,  the  vice-president  of  a  rag 
society;  and  his  little  daughter,  a  tutoress  of  a  Sunday-school. 
They  knew  nothing  of  the  hobbies  of  modern  times.  In  their 
Church  capacity  alone  they  moved.  They  neither  transformed 
themselves  into  any  other  kind  of  association,  nor  did  they 
fracture  and  sever  themselves  into  divers  societies.  They  viewed 
the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  scheme  of  heaven  to  ameliorate 
the  world ;  as  members  of  it,  they  considered  themselves  bound 
to  do  all  they  could  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  men. 
They  dare  not  transfer  to  a  missionary  society,  or  Bible  society 
or  education  society,  a  cent  or  a  prayer,  lest,  in  doing  so,  they 
should  rob  the  Church  of  its  glory,  and  exalt  the  inventions  of 
men  above  the  wisdom  of  God.  In  their  Church  capacity  alone 
they  moved.  The  Church  they  considered  the  pillar  and  ground 
of  the  truth ;  they  viewed  it  as  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as 
the  house  of  the  living  God.  They  considered,  if  they  did  all 
they  could  in  this  capacity,  they  had  nothing  left  for  any  other 
object  of  a  religious  nature.  In  this  capacity,  wide  as  its  sphere 
extended,  they  exhibited  the  truth  in  word  and  deed.  Their 
good  works,  which  accompanied  salvation,  were- the  labors  of 
love,  in  ministering  to  the  necessities  of  saints,  to  the  poor  of 
the  brotherhood.  They  did  good  to  all  men,  but  especially  to 
the  household  of  faith.  They  practiced  that  pure  and  undefiled 


156  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

religion  which,  in  overt  acts,  consists  in  taking  care  of  orphans 
and  widows  in  their  affliction,  and  keeping  one's  self  unspotted 
by  (the  vices  of)  the  world. 
******* 

We  happened  upon   the   truth,  when   we   published  as  our 
opinion,  about  seven  years  ago,  that  "  the  present  popular  exhi- 
bition of  the  Christian  religion  is  a  compound  of  Judaism,  heathen 
philosophy,  and  Christianity. 
******* 

From  the  whole  of  the  premises  it  is  evident,  that  the  profess- 
ing world  is  far  gone,  yea,  very  far,  indeed,  from  original 
ground;  for  such  was  the  import  of  the  Gospel  testimony,  as  we 
have  seen,  that  all  who  professed  to  believe  it,  whether  they  were 
intelligent  persons  or  not,  understood,  at  least,  so  much  by  it, 
that  it  gave  assurance  of  pardon,  and  acceptance  with  God,  to 
every  one  that  received  it,  that  is,  to  every  baptized  believer; 
consequently,  every  one  that  was  baptized,  making  the  same 
profession,  he  both  thought  himself,  and  was  esteemed  by  his 
professing  brethren,  a  justified  and  accepted  person.  Hence  we 
do  not  find  a  single  instance  on  the  sacred  record  of  a  doubting 
or  disconsolate  Christian. 
******* 

The  dominion  of  the  clergy,  though  much  impaired,  still 
exists  to  an  alarming  extent ;  and  their  eagerness  to  have  an  un- 
rivaled control  over  the  public  sentiment  in  all  religious  affairs, 
remains  unabated.  Behold  the  arrogance  of  their  claims,  the 
peerless  haughtiness  of  their  pretensions !  They  have  said,  and 
many  of  them  still  say,  they  have  an  exclusive  right,  an  official 
right,  to  affix  the  proper  interpretation  to  the  Scriptures;  to  ex- 
pound them  in  public  assemblies ;  in  so  much,  that  it  would  be 
presumption  in  a  layman  to  attempt  to  exercise  any  of  those 
functions  which  they  have  assumed.  They  must  "christen"  the 
new-born  infant;  they  must  catechise  and  confirm  the  tender 
stripling;  they  must  celebrate  the  rite  of  matrimony;  they  must 
dispense  all  ordinances  in  religion ;  they  must  attend  the  corpse 
to  its  grave,  preach  a  funeral  sermon,  and  consecrate  the  very 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHRISTIAN  BAPTIST.  157 

ground  in  which  it  is  laid.  From  this  dominion  over  the  con- 
sciences and  feelings  of  mankind,  it  was  not  difficult  to  slide  the 
hand  into  the  purse  of  the  superstitious.  The  most  artful,  and, 
indeed,  the  most  effectual  way  to  get  hold  of  the  purse,  is  to  get 
a  hold  on  the  conscience.  The  deeper  the  impression  is  made 
on  the  one,  the  deeper  the  draft  on  the  other.  Thus  it  came  to 
pass  that  the  clergy  obtained  worldly  establishments,  enriched 
themselves,  and  became  an  order  as  powerful  in  the  State  as  ii 
the  Church. 
******* 

When  I  hear  a  modern  preacher,  either  with  or  without  a 
diploma  in  his  pocket,  saying  that  he  is  an  embassador  of  Christ, 
sent  of  God  to  preach  the  Gospel,  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
take  upon  him  the  work  of  the  ministry,  I  ask  him  to  work  a 
miracle,  or  afford  some  divine  attestation  of  his  being  such  a 
character.  If  he  can  not  do  this,  I  mark  him  down  as  a  knave, 
or  an  enthusiast ;  consequently,  an  imposter,  either  intentionally 
or  unintentionally. 
******* 

When  there  is  a  voluntary  association  of  any  number  of  dis- 
ciples of  Christ,  met  in  any  one  place  to  attend  to  the  duties  and 
privileges  of  a  Church,  should  they  call  any  one  of  their  own 
number,  who  possesses  the  qualifications  belonging  to  the  bishop 
or  overseer,  laid  down  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  written  word, 
and  should  they  appoint  him  to  office,  as  the  Holy  Spirit  has 
taught  them  in  the  same  written  word,  then  it  may  be  said  to 
such  a  person,  "Take  heed  to  yourself,  and  to  the  flock  over 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  has  made  you  overseer. ' '  But  this  bishop 
of  whom  we  have  now  spoken,  is  neither  priest,  embassador, 
minister  of  religion,  clergyman,  nor  a  reverend  divine;  but 
simply  one  that  has  the  oversight  of  one  voluntary  society,  who, 
when  he  leaves  that  society,  has  no  office  in  any  other,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  being  an  officer  in  that.  His  discharge  of  the 
work  of  a  bishop  is  limited  by,  and  confined  to,  the  particular 
congregation  which  appointed  him  to  office.  If  he  should  travel 
abroad  and  visit  another  congregation,  even  of  the  same  views 


158  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH, 

of  that  of  which  he  was  or  is  bishop,  he  is  then  no  bishop ;  he 
is  then  in  the  capacity  of  an  unofficial  disciple.  To  suppose  the 
contrary,  is  to  constitute  different  orders  of  men,  or  to  divide  the 
Church  into  the  common  classes  of  clergy  and  laity ;  than  which, 
nothing  is  more  essentially  opposite  to  the  genius  and  spirit  of 
Christianity. 

******* 
If  it  is  true  (as  we  shall  see  from  Scripture  it  is)  that  the  body 
of  Christ  is  united  in  its  several  members  by  the  belief  of  this 
matter  of  fact,  viz. :  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God,  and  that  it  is 
increased  by  the  confession  and  belief  of  it,  then  a  number  of 
very  important  corollaries  are  deducible  from  these  two  revealed 
propositions :  First,  the  peace  and  union  of  a  Church  of  Christ  are 
not  the  result  of  any  sort  of  ecclesiastical  government.  Secondly, 
the  increase  of  Christ's  body  is  not  predicated  on  any  thing  so 
exceedingly  exceptionable  as  modern  confessions  of  faith,  but  on 
the  confession  of  the  first  truth.  Thirdly,  the  worshiping 
establishments  now  in  operation  throughout  Christendom,  in- 
creased and  cemented  by  their  respective  voluminous'  confes- 
sions of  faith,  and  their  ecclesiastical  constitutions,  are  not 
Churches  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  the  legitimate  daughters  of  that 
mother  of  harlots,  the  Church  of  Rome. 

We  have  no  system  of  our  own,  nor  of  others,  to  substitute  in 
lieu  of  the  reigning  systems.  We  only  aim  at  substituting  the 
New  Testament  in  lieu  of  every  creed  in  existence ;  whether 
Mohammedan,  Pagan,  Jewish,  or  Presbyterian.  We  wish  to 
call  Christians  to  consider  that  Jesus  Christ  has  made  them  kings 
and  priests  to  God.  We  neither  advocate  Calvinism,  Arminian- 
ism,  Arianism,  Socinianism,  Trinitarianism,  Unitarianism,  Deism, 
or  Sectarianism,  but  New  Testamentism.  We  wish,  cordially 
wish,  to  take  the  New  Testament  out  of  the  abuses  of  the  clergy, 
and  put  it  into  the  hands  of  the  people.  And  to  do  this  is  no 
easy  task,  as  the  clergy  have  formed  the  opinions  of  nine-tenths 
of  Christendom,  before  they  could  form  an  opinion  of  their  own. 
They  have,  in  order  to  raise  the  people's  admiration  of  them,  for 


EXTRACTS  FROM  CHRISTIAN  BAPTIST.  159 

their  own  advantage,  taught  them  in  creeds,  in  sermons,  in 
catechisms,  in  tracts,  in  pamphlets,  in  primers,  in  folios,  that 
they  alone  can  expound  the  New  Testament ;  that  without  them, 
people  are  either  almost,  or  altogether,  destitute  of  the  means  of 
grace.  They  must  lead  in  the  devotion  of  the  people,  they 
must  consecrate  their  prayers,  their  praises;  and,  latterly,  they 
must  even  open  a  cattle-show,  or  an  exhibition  of  manufacturers, 
with  prayers  and  religious  pageantry. 
******* 

The  popular  belief  of  a  regeneration  previous  to  faith,  or  a 
knowledge  of  the  Gospel,  is  replete  with  mischief.  Similar  to 
this  is  a  a  notion  that  obtains  among  many,  of  a  "  law  work," 
or  some  terrible  process  of  terror  and  despair,  through  which  a 
person  must  pass,  as  through  the  pious  Bunyan's  slough  of  de- 
spond, before  he  can  believe  the  Gospel.  It  is  all  equivalent  to 
this,  that  a  man  must  become  a  desponding,  trembling  infidel 
before  he  can  become  a  believer.  Now  the  Gospel  makes  no 
provision  for  despondency,  inasmuch  as  it  assures  all  who  be- 
lieve it,  upon  the  veracity  of  God,  that  they  are  forgiven  and 

accepted  in  the  Beloved. 
******* 

Enthusiasm  flourishes,  blooms  under  the  popular  systems. 
This  man  was  regenerated  when  asleep,  by  a  vision  of  the  night. 
That  man  heard  a  voice  in  the  woods,  saying,  "Thy  sins  be  for- 
given thee."  A  third  saw  his  Savior  descending  to  the  tops  of 
the  trees  at  noonday.  A  thousand  form  a  band,  and  sit  up  all 
night,  to  take  heaven  by  surprise.  Ten  thousand  are  waiting  in 
anxiety  for  a  power,  for  a  power  from  on  high,  to  descend  upon 
their  souls;  they  frequent  meetings  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
this  power. 
******* 

Like  the  Phoenix  in  the  fable,  they  and  the  preacher  have 
gathered  a  bundle  of  dry  sticks,  and  they  set  about  clapping  their 
wings  with  one  accord,  that  they  may  fan  them  into  a  flame — 
which  sometimes  actually  happens,  if  our  faith  could  be  so  strong 
as  to  believe  it. 


I6O  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

From  all  this  scene  of  raging  enthusiasm,  be  admonished,  my 
friends,  to  open  your  Bibles,  and  to  hearken  to  the  voice  of  God, 
which  is  the  voice  of  reason.  God  now  speaks  to  us  only  by 
his  word.  By  his  Son,  in  the  New  Testament,  he  has  fully  re- 
vealed himself  and  his  will.  This  is  the  only  revelation  of  his 
spirit  which  we  are  to  regard.  The  popular  preachers  and  the 
popular  systems  alike  render  the  Word  of  God  of  none  effect. 
*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

John  Smith  read  these  papers  with  avidity — with  a  sus- 
picious, critical  eye,  that  overlooked  nothing — and  with  an 
admiration  for  its  style  that  was  positively  extravagant. 

But  in  vain,  the  pen  of  Alexander  Campbell  charmed,  or 
his  piety  and  genius  inspired  confidence;  Smith,  true  to 
himself,  accepted  no  doctrine,  and  renounced  no  error,  till 
compelled  to  do  so  by  the  Word  of  God. 


ADVICE  TO  HIS  BROTHER.  l6l 


CHAPTER    XV. 

Alexander  Campbell's  Article  on  "  Experimental  Religion  " — Awakens  Opposi- 
tion— John  Smith  goes  to  meet  Mr.  Campbell  at  Flemingsburg — Their  Intro- 
duction— Their  Interviews — Parts  from  Mr.  Campbell  with  a  better  under- 
standing of  him. 

THE  contents  of  the  eighth  number  of  the  "  Christian 
Baptist"  gave  great  offense  to  many  of  its  readers."  The 
article  on  "  Experimental  Religion "  was  regarded  as  a 
positive  proof  that,  however  great  might  be  the  learning 
and  talents  of  the  editor,  he  was  utterly  destitute  of  heart- 
felt religion. 

Smith  himself,  who  had  failed  to  find  out  to  what  theo- 
logical school  Alexander  Campbell  belonged,  was  almost 
persuaded,  on  reading  the  article  in  question,  to  concur  in 
the  general  opinion,  that  he  was  a  very  erudite,  but  wholly 
unregenerate  man. 

Some,  whom  he  had  induced  to  subscribe  for  the  paper, 
came  to  him  and  ordered  it  to  be  discontinued.  Among 
them  was  his  brother  Jonathan,  who  had  recently  moved 
from  Stockton's  Valley,  and  was  now  living  but  a  few  miles 
distant  from  him. 

"You  are  wrong,  Jonathan,"  said  he  to  his  brother,  "you 
ought  still  to  read  that  work.  I  do  not  myself  indorse  all 
that  Mr.  Campbell  has  written.  But  I  am  willing  to  pay 
him  one  dollar  a  year,  were  he  Satan  himself,  and  his 
writings  destitute  of  truth,  just  for  his  manner  of  saying 
14 


1 62  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

things.  You  are  a  young  preacher,  and  may  well  afford  to 
read  it,  just  to  learn  how  to  say  great  things  in  few  words. 
Study  its  manner,  my  brother,  and,  if  you  choose,  let  the 
matter  go." 

*  Shortly  after  the  publication  of  the  article  on  "  Experi- 
mental Religion,"  in  the  spring  of  1824,  Mr.  Campbell  vis- 
ited Kentucky.  Hearing  that  he  would  be  at  Flemings- 
burg,  about  twenty  miles  distant,  and  that  it  was  his  in- 
tention to  come  on  to  Mount  Sterling  from  that  place, 
Smith  proposed  to  some  of  his  brethren,  that,  as  an  act 
of  courtesy  to  a  distinguished  stranger,  they  should  'go 
and  meet  him  at  that  point.  But  so  great  was  the  prej- 
udice which  his  recent  essays  had  stirred  up  against  him, 
that  they  were  not  willing  to  ride  to  Flemingsburg,  and 
show  him  the  way  to  their  village !  Smith,  therefore,  went 
alone.  He  reached  Flemingsburg  on  the  day  Mr.  Camp- 
bell had  apppointed  to  preach  there.  On  entering  the 
town,  he  was  met  by  Elder  William  Vaughn,  a  Baptist  cler- 
gyman, with  whom  he  was  well  acquainted. 

"Brother  John,"  said  he  to  Smith,  "have  you  seen 
brother  Campbell  yet  ? " 

"  No,  sir,"  he  replied,  "  I  have  not ;  have  you  seen 
him?" 

"  Why,  I  have  been  with  him  for  eight  days  and  nights, 
through  Mason  and  Bracken  Counties,  and  have  heard  him 
every  day ! " 

"  Do,  then,  tell  me  what  his  views  are  on  doctrinal 
points.  Is  he  a  Calvinist  or  an  Arminian,  an  Arian  or  a 
Trinitarian  ? " 

"  I  do  not  know ; "  said  Elder  Vaughn,  "  he  has  nothing 
to  do  with  any  of  these  things." 

"  Well,  I  can  tell,  when  I  hear  him,  just  what  he  is." 


*  See  Article  in  Millen.  Har.,  vol.  vii,  No.  5,  contributed  by  Albert  Allen. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  ALEXANDER    CAMPBELL.      163 

"How?" 

"If  he  is  a  man  of  sense,"  said  Smith,  "and  takes  a 
position,  even  though  he  should  not  run  it  out  into  any  ism, 
I  can  do  it  for  him,  and  tell  exactly  where  he  would  land. 
But  tell  me,  brother  Vaughn,  does  he  know  any  thing  at 
all  about  heartfelt  religion  ? " 

"  Bless  you,  brother  John,  he  is  one  of  the  most  pious, 
godly  men  that  I  was  ever  in  company  with  in  all  my  life." 

"  But  do  you  think  he  knows  any  thing  about  a  Christian 
experience?"  still  inquired  Smith. 

"Lord  bless  you,  he  knows  every  thing,"  said  Vaughn. 
"  Gome,  I  want  to  introduce  you  to  him." 

They  went  into  the  house,  where  Mr.  Campbell  was. 
He  was  taking  off  his  sherryvallies,  in  which  he  had  been 
riding  that  morning ;  for  the  roads  were  muddy.  As  he 
arose  to  receive  the  stranger,  "his  nose,"  as  John  Smith 
used  to  say,  "seemed  to  stand  a  little  to  the  north? 

"  Brother  Campbell,"  said  Elder  Vaughn,  "  I  wish  to  in- 
troduce brother  John  Smith." 

"  Ah  ! "  said  he,  "  and  is  this  brother  John  Smith  ?  I 
know  brother  Smith  very  well,  though  I  have  never  seen 
him  before." 

An  introduction  was  not  all  that  John  Smith  desired. 
He  wished  to  sit  down  where  he  was,  to  look  upon  him 
without  interruption  ;  to  scan  and  to  penetrate,  if  he  could, 
the  man  who  had  been  so  much  talked  of,  and  who  in  his 
writings  had  already  put  so  many  new  thoughts  into  his 
mind.  But  the  hour  appointed  for  the  address  had  come  ; 
and  they  all  started  to  the  meeting-hous^ together. 

The  house  was  small,  but  preparations  had  been  made 
for  seating  the  congregation  in  the  yard,  where  a  small 
platform  had  been  erected  against  the  wall  for  the  speaker. 
Still  there  was  not  room  enough  for  the  people,  and  many 
had  to  stand.  Smith  took  his  seat  on  the  floor  of  the 


164  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

platform,  near  the  feet  of  the  speaker,  so  that  he  could 
catch  every  word  that  might  fall  from  his  lips.  He  was 
determined  now  to  find  out  the  theory  of  religion  he  held 
to,  if,  indeed,  he  held  to  any ;  for  he  was  still  full  of  doubt 
and  suspicion. 

Mr.  Campbell  arose  and  read  the  allegory  of  Hagar  and 
Sarah,  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  Galatians.  After  giving  a 
general  outline  of  the  whole  Epistle,  and  showing  how  it 
ought  to  be  read,  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  Apostle's  mean- 
ing, he  took  up  the  allegory  itself.  In  a  simple,  plain,  and 
artless  manner,  leaning  with  one  hand  on  the  head  of  his 
cane,  he  went  through  his  discourse.  There  was  nothing 
about  the  man  to  call  off  the  mind  of  the  listeners  from 
what  he  was  saying.  He  seemed,  as  Smith  afterward  re- 
marked, to  move  in  a  higher  sphere  or  latitude  than  that 
in  which  the  isms  of  the  day  abounded.  When  the  con- 
gregation was  dismissed,  Smith  immediately  remarked  to 
Elder  Vaughn : 

"  Is  it  not  hard,  brother  Billy,  to  ride  twenty  miles,  as 
I  have  done,  just  to  hear  a  man  preach  thirty  minutes?" 

"'You  are  mistaken,  brother  John ;  look  at  your  watch. 
It  has  surely  been  longer  than  that?" 

He  looked  at  his  watch,  and  to  his  surprise,  saw  that 
the  discourse  had  been  just  two  hours  and  a  half  long. 
Holding  up  his  watch,  he  remarked  : 

"  I  have  never  been  more  deceived.  Two  hours  of  my 
life  are  gone,  I  know  not  how,  though  wide  awake,  too,  all 
the  time!" 

"  Did  you  find  out,  brother  John,"  now  asked  Vaughn, 
"  whether  he  was  a  Calvinist  or  an  Arminian  ? " 

"  No,"  replied  Smith,  "  I  know  nothing  about  the  man  ; 
but,  be  he  saint  or  devil,  he  has  thrown  more  light  on  that 
epistle,  and  on  the  whole  Scriptures,  than  I  have  received 
in  all  the  sermons  that  I  have  ever  heard  before." 


INTERVIEW   WITH  MR.  CAMPBELL.  165 

It  was  arranged  that  Mr.  Campbell  should  go  a  few 
miles  that  evening  toward  Mount  Sterling,  and  spend 
the  night  at  a  Mr.  Cannon's,  who  lived  on  the  road.  As 
they  rode  along,  Smith  drew  to  his  side  and  remarked  : 

"  Brother  Campbell,  I  do  not  wish  to  meet  any  man  at 
the  judgment,  having  entertained  an  unfavorable  opinion 
of  him  without  good  grounds.  I  will  now  say  to  you  what 
I  have  never  said  to  any  man  before — I  am,  religiously 
speaking,  suspicious  of  you ;  and,  as  I  have  an  unfavor- 
able opinion  of  you,  I  am  willing  to  give  you  my  reason 
for  it." 

"Well,  brother  John,"  said  Mr.  Campbell,  "if  all  my 
Baptist  brethren  would  treat  me  as  candidly  as  you  have 
done,  I  would  think  more  of  them ;  it  would  afford  me  a 
better  opportunity,  too,  to  explain  to  them  my  views.  I 
expected,"  continued  he,  smiling,  "  that  when  I  saw  you,  I 
would  know  all  you  thought  of  me;  for  I  heard  recently, 
that  at  the  Bracken  Association,  held  in  Carlisle,  last  Sep- 
tember, when  a  number  of  preachers  that  had  gone  to  a 
certain  house  to  dinner,  were  abusing  me  terribly  for  the 
attack  I  had  made  upon  the  clergy,  you  said  that  the 
clergy  needed  a  castigation  so  much  that  you  were  willing 
to  be  whipped  almost  to  death  yourself  to  get  the  others 
killed." 

"Yes,"  said  John  Smith,  "and  I  said  it  sincerely,  too. 
But,  brother  Campbell,  I  now  wish  to  say  to  you  that  I  think 
it  strange  you  should  have  written  that  piece  on  Experi- 
mental Religion,  which  I  read  in  the  eighth  number  of 
the  Christian  Baptist.  You  can  not  be  so  ignorant  as 
the  piece  would  seem  to  prove.  There  must  be  something 
kept  back  or  hidden  behind  it  all ;  for  you  understand  as 
well  as  any  one  what  the  populars  mean  by  Experimental 
religion'' 

"My  father,"  said  Mr.  Campbell,  in  reply,  "gave  me  a 


1 66  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

scolding  for  publishing  that  piece  so  soon  ;  for,  as  he 
thought,  the  people  were  not  ready  for  it.  But  I  have  a 
series  of  essays  on  hand,  on  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
which  will  explain  the  whole  matter ;  this  was  thrown  out 
only  to  call  the  attention  of  the  clergy." 

After  further  conversation,  they  reached  Mr.  Cannon's. 
Other  preachers  had  accompanied  them,  and  the  social 
hours  of  the  evening  were  protracted  by  conversation  on 
various  Scriptural  topics.  The  subjects  generally  were 
proposed  by  Smith  at  the  suggestion  of  his  Baptist  friends, 
who  seemed  to  be  unwilling  to  ask  Mr.  Campbell  their  own 
questions. 

At  last,  the  host  handed  the  Bible  to  Mr.  Campbell,  and 
requested  him  to  conduct  the  devotions  of  the  evening. 
He,  however,  appealed  to  those  around  him  to  relieve  him 
of  this  office  ;  but  they  refused.  In  a  serious  and  solemn 
manner,  he  then  remarked  : 

"  I  have  reason  to  think  hard  of  my  Baptist  brethren  in 
Kentucky ;  for  I  have  spent  nine  or  ten  days  among  them, 
have  spoken,  for  the  most  time,  twice  each  day,  and  have 
conversed  the  greater  part  of  the  night,  until  much  worn 
down ;  and  yet  I  have  never  been  able  to  get  any  one  of 
them  to  open  a  meeting  for  me,  even  by  singing  and 
prayer ! " 

Turning  around  to  Smith,  he  said,  "Brother  John,  will 
you  take  the  book  and  proceed  ? " 

"  If  brother  Campbell  is  a  Christian,"  said  Smith,  taking 
the  book,  "  he  can  make  as  much  allowance  for  my  imper- 
fections as  any  one  present ;  but  if  he  be  a  poor,  uncon- 
verted sinner,  I  do  not  care  what  he  says  or  thinks  about 
me." 

With  this  he  read  and  offered  up  the  prayer  of  the 
evening.  On  the  next  morning,  he  and  his  companion 
went  on  their  way  together,  toward  Mount  Sterling.  He 


INTERVIEW  WITH  MR.  CAMPBELL.  167 

had  a  good  opportunity  of  conversing  on  many  of  the  doc- 
trinal points  that  at  that  time  especially  interested  him, 
which  greatly  conduced  to  his  correct  understanding  of 
Mr.  Campbell's  religious  views. 

As  they  rode  along  together,  he  remarked  in  his  own 
frank  and  peculiar  manner : 

"  Brother  Campbell,  I  have  seen  some  of  these  preachers 
who  were  educated  for  the  ministry  in  the  eastern  col- 
leges ;  and  I  was  much  surprised  to  find  in  you  an  entire 
want  of  gesture  and  manner.  You  leaned  upon  your  cane 
easily,  though  somewhat  awkwardly,  and  talked  as  men 
commonly  talk." 

"  I  long  ago  studied  all  those  arts  of  elocution  of  which 
you  speak,  brother  John,"  said  Campbell ;  "  but  I  have 
conscientiously  refrained  from  any  attempt  to  use  them." 

Smith  looked  at  him  with  curious  surprise. 

"The  apostles,"  continued  Mr.  Campbell,  "were  sent 
forth  as  witnesses  to  a  certain  great  fact.  Suppose  that 
one  of  them  should,  in  making  his  statement  before  the 
people,  have  plied  his  arms  in  gesticulations,  stamped  his 
foot  in  vehemence,  and  declared  his  testimony  in  the  ears 
of  the  people,  in  a  loud,  stentorian  voice  ? " 

"  I  would  not  have  believed  one  word  he  said,"  inter- 
rupted Smith. 

"  But  how  weightily  fell  the  words  of  these  first  preach- 
ers," said  Mr.  Campbell,  "  when,  with  composure  of  man- 
ner, natural  emphasis,  and  solemn  deliberation,  they  spoke 
forth  the  words  of  truth  and  soberness  ! " 

After  crossing  the  Licking  River,  and  while  slowly  riding 
up  the  hill  beyond,  Smith,  who  wished  to  understand  Mr. 
Campbell's  view  definitely  on  the  subject  of  Christian  Ex- 
perience, inquired : 

"  Brother  Campbell,  I  suppose  you  had  something  that 
the  populars  call  an  experience,  did  you  not  ? " 


168  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"  Oh  !  yes,  I  had  an  experience,"  replied  Campbell. 

"Well,  I  want  you  to  tell  it  to  me,"  earnestly  said 
Smith;  and  he  drew  closer  to  the  side  of  his  fellow 
traveler. 

"  My  father,"  proceeded  Mr.  Campbell,  "  intended  to 
make  a  clergyman  of  me,  and  always  kept  me  near  him. 
From  the  time  that  I  could  read  the  Scriptures,  I  was  con- 
vinced that  Jesus  was  the  Son  of  God,  and  was  fully  per- 
suaded that  I  was  a  sinner,  and  must  obtain  pardon  through 
the  merits  of  Christ,  or  be  lost  forever.  This  caused  me 
great  distress  of  mind  ;  for  I  was  much  exercised  under 
the  workings  of  a  guilty  conscience.  Finally,  however, 
I  was  able  to  put  my  reliance  on  him,  the  only  Savior  of 
sinners  ;  and  from  that  time  I  have  had  peace  of  mind. 
It  had  not  yet  entered  into  my  head  to  investigate  the 
subject  of  baptism,  or  the  doctrines  of  the  creeds.  After- 
ward, when  I  came  to  the  United  States,  I  was  led  to  think 
on  the  subject  of  baptism  by  a  question  asked  me  one  day 
by  an  old  Christian  woman  ;  and  I  became  convinced, 
after  thorough  investigation,  that  immersion  is  the  only 
mode  of  baptism.  Persuaded  that  any  baptism  in  infancy 
was  not  Christian  baptism,  and  feeling  that  every  com- 
mand of  the  Savior  should  be  obeyed,  I  was  accordingly 
immersed." 

Smith  was  satisfied  with  the  experience,  thus  summarily 
stated,  and  he  felt  that  he  could  now  give  Mr.  Campbell 
his  hand  in  fellowship. 

"  And  now,"  said  Campbell,  "  I  would  like  to  hear  yours." 
After  Smith  had  given  succinctly  his  own  religious  ex- 
perience, Mr.  Campbell  said  to  him  : 

"  I  have  never  doubted  or  denied  the  reality  of  these 

various  workings  of  the  mind  as  modified  by  the  different 

(  temperaments  of  those  who  are  exercised  by  them.     But 

I  do  object  to  the  use  that  is  made  of  them  by  the  clergy. 


J*L 

. 


PARTS  FROM  MR.   CAMPBELL.  169 

We  should  not  make  them  tests  of  one  another's  Chris- 
tianity ;  nor  is  there  any  thing  in  the  Book  that  requires  a 
man  to  tell  all  the  workings  of  his  conscience,  as  a  pre- 
requisite to  baptism. 

At  Mount  Sterling,  Mr.  Campbell  delivered  three  dis- 
courses, and  then  proceeded  to  North  Middletown,  in 
Bourbon  County ;  at  which  point  John  Smith  parted  from 
him,  with  a  better  understanding  of  the  character  and 
views  of  his  distinguished  brother  and  friend. 

IS 


170  LIFE   OF  ELDER   JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

Radical  change  of  views,  and  a  Corresponding  change  in  the  substance  of  Public 
Discourses — Close  study  of  the  Bible — Counting  the  cost  of  Faithfulness  to 
Principle — New  Translation — General  Dissatisfaction  among  the  Baptists- 
Opposition  organized. 

JOHN  SMITH  continued  to  ponder  the  bold  words  of  the 
Christian  Baptist,  quite  sure  that  he  had  always  been 
wrong,  but  still  doubting  whether  Mr.  Campbell  was  right. 
At  last,  he  ceased  to  speculate,  and  he  began  to  read  the 
Scriptures  as  a  child  would  read  them.  His  mind  now 
cast  off  its  fetters  forever,  and  he  was  free ! 

Familiar  with  every  text  and  argument  by  which  the 
popular  systems  were  defended,  he  was  well  prepared  to 
discuss  them  before  the  people  ;  and  he  resolved  to  begin 
the  controversy.  As  he  would  have  to  remove  prejudice 
as  well  as  refute  error,  he  studied  to  present  the  truth  in 
the  least  offensive  form,  and  in  the  most  impressive  man- 
ner. The  churches  every-where  stood  in  need  of  reform ; 
and,  reflecting  on  his  own  history,  he  felt  that  he  had 
been  called  by  Divine  Providence  to  the  work  of  urging 
that  reform.  He  knew  that  in  renouncing  his  former 
opinions,  he  would  cast  off  old  friends ;  and  that  in  pro- 
claiming the  new  faith,  he  would  arouse  the  animosity, 
if  not  hate,  of  the  clergy.  It  was  a  solemn  hour,  when, 
closing  his  Bible,  very  late  one  evening,  he  turned  to  his 


RADICAL   CHANGE  OF  VIEWS.  I /I 

wife,  and,  with  a  heart  dilated  with  the  greatness  of  the 
work  before  him,  began  with  her  to  count  up,  one  by 
one,  the  sacrifices  which  he  would  have  to  make.  No 
man  ever  had  a  warmer  or  more  constant  heart  for  his 
friends ;  and  now  alone  by  the  fireside  that  evening  they 
sat,  and  called  over  by  name  the  friends  that  would  soon 
discard  them.  No  man  ever  held  more  sacred  his  Chris- 
tian reputation ;  and  now  they  mournfully  talked  together 
of  the  calumnies  that  would  soon  be  heaped  upon  him. 
He  was  still  in  debt,  and,  like  his  father,  he  was  so  con- 
stituted, that  even  an  unpaid  bill  rested  on  his  conscience 
like  guilt.  His  brethren  still  neglected  to  meet  the  calls 
of  the  bank  upon  him.  "  Will  they  not  now,"  thought  he, 
"  turn  from  me,  and,  forgetting  all  their  pledges,  leave  me 
bankrupt,  friendless,  and  without  a  home  ? "  They  talked 
together  of  those  still  dearer  friends  far  away  on  the  Cum- 
berland, and  they  wept  to  think  that  even  mother  and 
sister  and  brother  must  be  forsaken.  But  houses,  and 
lands,  and  friends,  and  fair  name,  and  life  itself,  if  need  be, 
they  resolved  to  sacrifice  for  the  Truth — rejoicing,  even  in 
the  midst  of  their  tears,  that  they  should  be  counted  worthy 
to  suffer  all  these  things  for  his  Name's  sake.  He  had  no 
hope,  he  said  to  his  wife,  that  the  Ancient  Gospel  would 
prevail  in  his  day;  but  he  prayed  that  he  might  live  long 
enough  to  see  a  few  young  men  of  another  generation 
raised  up  to  push  forward  the  good  work  to  its  consum- 
mation. 

•  In  1825,  he  began  to  preach  the  great  facts  of  the  evan- 
gelical history,  and  to  call  on  all  men  to  believe  them  on 
the  testimony  of  the  inspired  writers.  He  began  to  de- 
clare the  commandments  of  Jesus  as  the  only  Head  of 
the  Church,  and  to  urge  all  men  to  obey  them. 

"  However  much  the  sects  may  differ  about  other  mat- 
ters," said  he,  "one  thing  is  certain:  whoever  does  not 


172  LIFE  OF  ELDER   JOHN  SMITH. 

believe  the  Gospel  must  be  damned.  The  Arminian  de- 
nies the  doctrines  of  Calvin,  and  yet  is  well  assured  that 
the  Calvinist  may  be  saved ;  Calvinism,  then,  is  not  the 
Gospel  of  Christ.  He  denies,  also,  without  danger  of  hell- 
fire,  the  speculations  of  the  Universalist ;  Universalism, 
then,  is  not  the  Gospel.  The  strict  Calvinist  disowns  the 
Fullerite,  and  will  not  fellowship  the  Arminian  ;  and  yet 
even  he  will  admit  that  these  may  be  saved.  Neither 
Fullerism  nor  Arminianism,  therefore,  can  be  the  Gospel. 
It  is  not,  therefore,  the  distinctive  feature  in  any  of  these 
systems  of  theology ;  it  may  be  a  common  element  in  the 
faith  of  all,  but  it  can  not  be  found  in  the  ism  of  any." 

He  began  to  teach,  also,  that  the  Bible  is  the  only  reve- 
lation of  God  to  man ;  that  the  New  Testament  contains 
all  that  is  necessary  to  be  believed  or  obeyed  in  order  to 
the  enjoyment  of  pardon  and  eternal  life ;  and  that  in- 
spired penmen  wrote  to  produce  faith ;  for  faith  comes 
by  hearing  the  Word  of  God,  and  is  simply  confidence  in 
Christ,  and  in  all  that  God  has  said,  promised,  or  threatened 
in  the  Scriptures.  The  Sacred  Writings,  he  contended,  are 
sufficiently  plain  on  all  matters  of  duty,  when  interpreted 
in  harmony  with  the  laws  of  language  and  of  thought ;  and 
it  is  the  inalienable  right  and  imperative  duty  of  every 
man  to  read  and  to  interpret  them  for  himself,  calling  no 
man  on  earth  master.  The  Christian  Confession  is  for- 
mally contained  in  the  proposition  that  Jesus  is  the  Mes- 
siah, the  Son  of  God,  the  cordial  acceptance  of  which  is 
the  faith  that,  in  full  dependence  on  him,  works  by  love 
and  purifies  the  heart.  The  penitent  believer  is  intro- 
duced into  the  Church,  or  Family  of  God,  by  a  birth  of 
water.  This  birth,  as  distinguished  from  his  quickening, 
is  an  immersion  into  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Submission  to  the  ordinance 
of  baptism  is,  moreover,  the  initial  act  of  obedience  to 


A  CLOSE  STUDY.  OF  THE  BIBLE.  173 

Jesus  Christ,  in  the  due  performance  of  which  the  believ- 
ing penitent  is  authorized  to  regard  himself  as  accepted 
with  God  the  Father,  through  faith  in  his  Son.  He 
maintained  that  the  Scriptures  do  not  warrant  the  dogma 
that  the  Spirit,  by  a  special,  abstract  influence,  produces 
faith.  He  taught,  however,  that  it  was  an  outward  wit- 
ness to  the  world  ;  because  through  the  words  of  the 
apostles,  it  convinces  *the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness, 
and  of  judgment.  If  these  views  were  held  at  that  time 
by  any  order  of  Protestants,  he  contended  that  they  were 
held  speculatively  only ;  but  that  by  all  classes  they  were 
practically  denied. 

In  his  earlier  study  of  the  Word,  John  Smith  had  often 
been  much  embarrassed  by  the  recurrence  of  obsolete  terms 
and  antiquated  forms  of  speech.  He  had  memorized  the 
greater  part  of  the  Christian  Scriptures,  and  had  studiously 
pondered  them  in  his  mind ;  but  still  the  vail  lay  on  many 
a  verse  and  page  as  he  read.  Quaint  terms  and  puzzling 
phraseology,  that  defied  every  rule  of  interpretation,  and 
discrepancies  which  he  could  not  reconcile,  had  often  tried 
his  patience  and  baffled  his  skill.  He  felt  sure  that  the 
apostles  wrote  to  be  understood,  and  that  it  required  no 
special  aid  of  the  Spirit  to  interpret  what  they  had  written; 
and  he  used  to  wonder  at  such  phrases  as,  "  We  do  you 
to  wit,"  though  persuaded  at  the  time  that  the  fault  was  in 
his  own  mind.  He  had  not  yet  called  in  question  the 
learning  or  the  faithfulness  of  the  king's  translators ;  nor 
had  he  reflected  that  a  living  language  is  continually 
changing,  and  that,  consequently,  any  translation  must,  in 
time,  become  antiquated  and  obscure. 

About  that  time  a  series  of  articles  appeared  in  the  Chris- 
tian Baptist  on  the  "  History  of  the  English  Bible,"  evi- 
dently designed  to  prepare  the  reader  for  a  new  translation 
of  tiie  Scriptures.  The  objeUions  to  the  common  version, 


174  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHX  SMITH. 

which  had  often  been  made  by  intelligent  students  of  the 
Scriptures,  were  prudently,  but  forcibly  presented ;  certain 
imperfections  were  pointed  out,  and,  finally,  proposals  were 
issued  for  publishing  a  New  Translation,  which  the  editor 
indorsed  as  the  best  in  the  English  language. 

This  version,  reprinted  substantially  from  London 
editions,  and  often  improperly  called  "  Alexander  Camp- 
bell's Translation,"  was  made  by  George  Campbell,  author 
of  the  "  Philosophy  of  Rhetoric,"  James  McKnight,  au- 
thor of  a  "  Harmony  of  the  Four  Gospels,"  and  Philip 
Doddridge,  the  celebrated  author  of  the  "  Rise  and  Prog- 
ress." The  first  two  were  Doctors  of  Divinity  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland ;  the  last,  a  Congregationalist. 

In  his  prospectus  of  the  work,  the  American  compiler 
and  publisher  remarks  :  "  One  improvement  of  consider- 
able importance  ought  to  be  made  in  this  work,  and  to 
which  we  shall  attend.  Sundry  terms  are  not  translated 
into  English,  but  adopted  from  long  usage.  Those  terms 
are  occasionally  translated  into  English  by  Campbell  and 
McKnight,  but  not  always.  We  shall  uniformly  give  them 
the  meaning  which  they  have  affixed  to  them,  wherever 
they  occur,  and  thus  make  this  a  pure  English  New  Testa- 
ment, not  mingled  with  Greek  words,  either  adopted  or 
anglicised.  But  in  doing  this,  we  shall  not  depart  in  any 
instance  from  the  meaning  which  they  have  declared  those 
words  to  convey? 

In  April,  1 826,  the  first  edition  of  the  New  Translation 
was  issued  from  the  press,  and  Smith  sat  down  to  its 
perusal,  not  only  without  prejudice,  but  with  eagerness 
and  delight.  Many  an  obscure  passage  was  at  once  made 
clear ;  unintelligible  words  and  phrases  disappeared ;  dis- 
crepancies were  reconciled ;  and  the  sacred  page  seemed 
to  grow  transparent  as  he  read  Texts  on  which  he  had 
once  relied  as  the  foundation  of  his  religious  system,  lost, 


STUDIES  THE  XEW  TRANSLATION.  175 

in  the  phraseology  of  the  new  version,  much  of  their  doc- 
trinal importance.  Still  he  accepted  no  rendering  until  he 
hqd  tried  it  by  his  own  canon  of  criticism,  that  whatever 
word  or  phrase  is  inconsistent  with  the  context,  or  with 
common  sense,  will  be  found,  on  due  examination,  to  be 
also  unscripturaL 

When  he  had,  by  this  rule,  approved  any  rendering,  he 
would  adopt  it,  and  quote  it  thenceforth  as  the  Word  of 
God.  He  had,  for  example,  when  immersing,  always  used 
the  formula,  "I  baptize  you  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost"  But  when  he 
read  in  the  new  version  of  immersion  into  the  Name,  he 
approved  it;  for  he  reasoned  that  inasmuch  as  all  au- 
thority in  heaven  and  on  earth  had  been  given  to  the  Son, 
it  could  not  be  proper  to  baptize  disciples  in  the  name, 
that  is,  by  the  authority,  of  the  Father  too,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  And,  as  baptism  introduced  the  candidate 
into  a  new  state,  or  into  a  new  relation,  he  did  not  hesitate, 
though  ignorant  of  Greek,  to  adopt  that  language  also. 

He  told  his  brethren,  on  one  occasion,  that  as  baptise 
was  a  foreign  word,  he  would  always  in  future  translate  it 
for  them.  "  In  feet,"  said  he,  "  as  not  many  of  you  have 
the  gift  of  tongues,  or  of  interpretation,  I  am  resolved  to 
speak  to  you  in  Greek  no  more." 

He  once  heard  an  evangelist  declare  from  the  pulpit 
that  the  word  baptize  should  be  erased  from  the  Book,  be- 
cause it  was  neither  English,  nor  Greek,  nor  Latin,  It 
meant  to  sprinkle,  if  one  chose  to-affix  such  a  meaning  to 
it ;  or,  it  might  mean  to  pour,  or  to  immerse.  In  popular 
use,  it  meant  anything  or  nothing.  On  the  next  day,  he 
heard  the  same  evangelist,  when  immersing  a  candidate, 
use  the  word  baptize.  As  soon  as  he  had  the  opportunity, 
he  took  the  inconsistent  preacher  to  task : 

"  Brother,  I  do  not  rank  myself  among  learned  men,  but 


LIFE   OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


superior  age  gives  me  some  privileges  among  those  who 
are  younger  than  myself.  Yesterday,  you  taught  us  that 
the  word  baptize  is  neither  Greek,  Latin,  Dutch,  nor 
English  ;  that  it  is,  in  fact,  a  word  without  any  meaning 
at  all." 

"  And  do  you  not  think  so  too  ?  "  said  the  evangelist. 

"  I  was  inclined  to  take  your  word  for  it,"  replied  he,  "as 
you  perhaps  understand  some  of  these  languages  ;  but  why 
did  you,  in  administering  the  ordinance  of  immersion  to- 
day, solemnly  use  the  very  word  which,  yesterday,  you  said 
belongs  to  no  language  on  earth,  and  has  no  fixed  mean- 


ing among  men 


Had  these  little  innovations  appeared  only  in  his  con- 
versation, they  might  have  given  but  little  offense  to  his 
brethren.  But  the  more  solemn  and  public  the  occasion, 
the  more  fit  was  the  opportunity,  in  his  judgment,  to  ex- 
emplify a  pure  speech.  About  the  first  public  use  that  he 
made  of  the  new  version  was  to  revise,  by  its  aid,  the  form- 
ulary words  of  baptism. 

Smith  never  infringed  on  any  custom  from  mere  caprice, 
or  from  a  spirit  of  innovation.  He  was  constitutionally 
steadfast  and  conservative.  Nevertheless,  he  could  break 
up  any  habit  of  thought  or  speech,  and  adopt  with  enthu- 
siasm the  most  progressive  ideas,  when  truth  or  consistency 
required  it.  To  erase  from  the  memory  and  the  heart,  for 
truth's  sake,  phrase  after  phrase  of  Holy  Writ,  learned  and 
loved  in  childhood,  and  to  train  the  ear  and  the  tongue  to 
unfamiliar  texts  instead,  evinces  a  devotion  to  truth  at  once 
beautiful  and  strong. 

He  did  not,  however,  approve  of  every  change  from  the 
common  version.  He  dared  to  criticise,  and  sometimes 
to  reject ;  but  this  he  always  did  in  the  same  spirit  in 
which  he  approved.  One  evening,  as  he  sat  by  his  table 
reading  the  new  version  of  Acts  of  Apostles,  he  came  to  the 


STUDIES   THE  NEW   TRANSLATION.  1 77 

question  of  the  Philippian  jailer,  rendered  by  Doddridge 
thus  :  "Sirs,  what  must  I  do  that  I  may  be  safe?"  Turn- 
ing to  his  wife,  and  reciting  the  passage  aloud,  he  said : 

"  Nancy,  this  rendering  is  wrong,  and  I  will  not  accept 
it.  They  have  not  been  faithful  to  the  Greek." 

"  What  in  the  world  dp  you  know  about  Greek,  Mr. 
Smith?''  asked  his  wife,  smiling  at  his  humorous  pretensions. 

"I  may  be  a  barbarian,  wife,  but  I  know  something  of 
the  mind  of  the  Spirit.  Neither  prophet  nor  apostle,  when 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  ever  spoke  or  wrote  one  word 
of  nonsense.  The  jailer  was  in  no  danger ;  for  the  pris- 
oners were  all  present,  and  he  knew  it.  Besides,  Paul's 
advice  to  him,  had  he  followed  it,  would  have  done  him 
no  good ;  for  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  would  certainly 
have  brought  down  on  his  head  the  vengeance  of  both  Pa- 
gan and  Jew.  Brother  Campbell  is  a  great  man,  Nancy, 
and  I  think  he  is  a  good  one,  too ;  but  for  that  very  reason 
we  must  beware  of  him.  Such  a  man  can  the  more  easily 
mislead  others,  should  he  be  wrong  himself.  They  have 
certainly  put  a  wrong  question  into  the  mouth  of  the  jailer, 
and  a  hundred  Campbells  could  not  make  me  think  other- 
wise."* 

Great  was  the  offense,  however,  which  the  New  Trans- 
lation gave  to  many  of  his  clerical  brethren.  One  of  them, 
having  purchased  a  copy  and  compared  it  diligently  with 
the  old  version,  piously  condemned  it,  and  burned  it  to 
ashes ! 

His  own  study  of  the  new  text,  and  his  occasional  public 
use  of  it,  his  growing  indifference  to  doctrines,  his  persistent 
efforts  to  rise  superior  to  denominationalism,  and  especially 
his  departure*  from  some  of  the  customs  of  the  Church, 
not  only  provoked  criticism,  but  incited  against  him,  at  last, 


*  Tie  old  rendering  of  this  passage  was  afterward  restored. 


178  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

a  formidable  and  organized  opposition.  His  brethren  in 
the  ministry  throughout  the  District  were  offended  by  his 
heresies ;  while  the  staunch  old  lay  brethren,  whose  religious 
ideas  were  set  with  age,  were  deeply  grieved  by  his  innova- 
tions. He  had  some  friends  among  the  young,  it  is  true ; 
but  their  influence  in  the  Church  was  not  yet  felt.  His 
good  sense  and  moral  courage  had  gained  for  him,  too,  the 
respect  and  admiration  of  many  unbelievers  ;  but  that  sort 
of  popularity  served  only  to  increase  the  dissatisfaction  of 
his  brethren.  He  was  accused  of  misleading  the  young, 
and  of  consorting  with  publicans  and  sinners. 

With  no  colleague  to  aid  him,  he  saw  the  storm  gath- 
ering wrathfully  about  him,  but  he  stood  ready  for  the 
bolt  which  he  knew  must  soon  descend  upon  him. 


DEA  TH  OF  DA  VID  BARR OW.  1 79 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

Death  of  Elder  David  Barrow — Opposition  of  the  Church  at  Lulbegrud  to  Smith*! 
Teaching — Sickness  and  Death  of  a  Child — Falling  away  of  Friends — Starts 
to  the  Meeting  of  the  North  District  Association — Complaints  against  him — 
Refusal  to  hear  his  Defense — Visit  at  the  Moderator's — Debate  in  the  Asso- 
ciation on  the  New  Translation — Smith's  Vindication — The  Matter  laid  over 
for  one  year. 

THE  church  at  Mount  Sterling  had  been  received  into 
the  Association  again;  and  John  Smith,  entreated  to 
come  and  break  to  them  the  Word  of  Life,  had,  in  1823, 
withdrawn  his  services  from  Lulbegrud,  and  accepted  the 
call. 

It  should  be  here  mentioned  that  Elder  David  Barrow 
died  about  that  time,  much  lamented,  notwithstanding  he 
had  grieved  so  many  of  his  brethren  by  his  zeal  as  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  Association  of  Baptists,  known  as 
The  Friends  of  Humanity.  But  those  who  opposed,  and 
even  those  who  persecuted  him,  acknowledged,  at  last,  that 
he  was  one  of  the  best  of  men. 

It  ought  to  be  added,  also,  that  John  Smith  had  continued 
to  invite  this  bold  man,  as  long  as  he  lived,  into  his  pulpit 
at  Grassy  Lick ;  for  he  had  resolved  never  to  cast  a  stone 
at  him,  nor  to  hold  the  clothes  of  those  who  did.  During 
Elder  Barrow's  last  illness,  he  had  visited  him  as  a  brother ; 
and,  though  differing  from  him  in  some  of  his  opinions,  had 


ISO  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

conversed  freely  and  affectionately  with  him  on  the  subject 
of  emancipation. 

"  I  have  no  more  doubt,"  said  David  Barrow,  in  the  last 
words  that  he  ever  spoke  to  his  friend,  "  that  God  will  one 
day  deliver  the  African  from  slavery,  than  that  he  once 
rescued  Israel,  with  an  outstretched  arm,  from  the  bondage 
of  Egypt.  Poor  Kentucky !  Poor  Kentucky ! " 

But  the  excitement  which  had  grown  out  of  this  early 
movement  to  abolish  slavery  in  Kentucky  subsided  soon 
after  the  death  of  David  Barrow.  All  estrangements  were 
in  time  reconciled ;  and  every  trace  of  the  impression  which 
had  made  on  the  public  mind,  seems,  in  a  few  years  to  have 
disappeared. 

It  was  among  the  strenuous  Calvinists  of  Lulbegrud, 
then,  who  had  not  enjoyed  the  ministrations  of  John  Smith 
since  1823,  that  the  dissatisfaction,  already  spoken  of,  first 
found  a  decided  and  formal  expression. 

It  was  the  custom  of  each  congregation  in  the  District 
to  send,  by  the  hands  of  duly-appointed  messengers,  an 
Annual  Letter  to  the  Association,  and  to  report  therein, 
according  to  the  requirements  of  the  Constitution,  the 
number  of  members  that  were  in  fellowship,  the  number 
that  had  been  baptized,  dismissed,  and  excluded,  and  that 
had  died  during  the  year.  Queries  and  complaints  against 
churches,  and  even  individuals,  were  often  appended ;  and, 
sometimes,  these  inquisitive  or  censorious  postscripts  were 
made  the  burden  of  the  correspondence. 

On  the  third  Saturday  in  July,  1827,  the  church  at  Lul- 
begrud met,  according  to  custom,  to  prepare  her  letter. 
The  Association  was  to  assemble  on  the  following  Satur- 
day at  Cane  Spring,  in  Madison  County — a  church  which, 
though  south  of  the  Kentucky  River,  had,  at  her  own  re- 
quest, been  received  into  the  North  District  Association  as 
early  as  1803. 


DEATH  OF  HIS  CHILD.  l8l 

Smith,  in  the  meantime,  learned  that  charges  would  be 
brought  against  him ;  but  what  they  were,  he  could  not 
definitely  ascertain.  He  knew  only  that  his  brethren,  gen- 
erally, censured  him,  and  condemned  his  doctrine ;  yet  such 
was  his  confidence  in  the  power  of  the  truth,  that  he  did 
not  doubt  that  some  of  the  more  pious  and  thoughtful 
would  stand  by  him  in  the  proclamation  and  defense  of  the 
ancient  Gospel. 

But  as  the  day  for  the  meeting  of  the  Association  drew 
nigh,  he  saw  that  professed  friends  began  to  fall  away  from 
him.  Many  that  had  often  listened  to  his  plea  for  reform 
stood  off,  and  awaited  the  action  of  his  enemies.  He  was 
left,  in  fact,  almost  alone ;  yet,  while  he  deeply  felt  his  isola- 
tion, he  clung  the  more  closely  to  the  cause  he  loved,  and 
now  girded  himself  for  the  conflict. 

Some  time  before  the  meeting  of  the  Association,  one 
of  his  children  was  taken  sick.  He  lay  for  weeks  in  his 
little  bed,  racked  with  torturing  pains,  and  slowly  wasted 
away.  For  sixteen  days  and  nights  the  father  kept  an 
almost  sleepless  watch  at  the  bedside.  On  the  26th  of 
July,  the  agonies  of  the  little  sufferer  ceased,  and  they 
laid  him  to  rest  among  the  vines  of  the  garden.  As  they 
walked  back  from  the  grave,  the  faithful  preacher  reminded 
his  wife  that  the  Association  would  meet  on  the  next  day, 
at  Cane  Spring.  "  Many  things  will  be  said  against  me," 
he  gently  urged,  "and  no  one  will  be  there  to  defend  me, 
or  to  speak  a  word  for  the  cause  we  love.  I  must  then  go. 
But,  wife,  I  can  not  leave  you  here  alone  in  your  bereave- 
ment ;  so  I  beg  you  to  go  along  with  me." 

Call  it  not  weakness,  if,  in  that  dark  hour,  John  Smith, 
forsaken  by  friends,  and  afflicted  of  God,  turned  to  his 
stricken  wife  for  comfort  and  support. 

They  had  now  five  children,  the  oldest  of  whom  was  but 
ten  years  of  age.  To  leave  them  at  home  with  strangers 


1 82  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

would  be  wrong ;  the  mother's  heart  would  not  consent. 
Joshua  Hurt,  therefore,  an  unmarried  brother,  for  whom 
the  little  boy  that  died  was  named,  urged  her  to  go,  and 
promised  to  stay  with  the  children  himself,  and  to  take 
good  care  of  them,  till  she  returned.  She  was  finally  per- 
suaded, and  the  horses  were  hastily  made  ready  for  the 
journey,  for  an  appointment  to  preach  that  very  night,  at 
Howard's  Creek,  twenty  miles  distant,  had  been  sent  on 
some  time  before. 

They  started  immediately,  and  reached  the  neighborhood 
of  Howard's  Creek  just  at  dark.  The  preacher  that  had  been 
requested  to  make  the  appointment  for  him  had  refused  to 
do  it,  but  had  warned  the  people  against  this  apostate  from 
the  faith.  But  they  had  learned,  from  other  sources,  that 
John  Smith  would  preach  in  the  neighborhood  that  night ; 
and  they  came  to  hear  him. 

His  wife  was  much  distressed  by  these  increasing  evi- 
dences of  ill-feeling  toward  him ;  and  she  anxiously  in- 
quired, as  they  rode  along  together  next  day,  what  he 
would  do  if  they  should  say  any  thing  against  him  in  the 
Association. 

"  Wife,"  said  he,  "  they  will  hear  of  our  bereavement, 
and  feel  too  much  for  our  distress  to  do  any  thing  unkind." 

He  reached  the  meeting-house  in  good  time,  on  Satur- 
day, and  took  his  seat  among  his  brethren  as  a  messenger 
from  the  church  at  Grassy  Lick. 

Elder  David  Chenault,  of  Cane  Spring,  presided  as 
Moderator,  an  office  which  he  had  filled  successively  for 
many  years.  He  was  comparatively  unlearned  in  books, 
having  read  but  little  beyond  his  Calvin ian  text ;  but  the 
sternness  of  his  character,  his  sober  piety,  and  his  im- 
penetrable orthodoxy,  had  given  him  influence  among  the 
more  rigid  of  the  Baptists. 

When  the  name  of  Lulbegrud  was  called,  her  letter  was 


CHARGES  PREFERRED.  183 

presented  and  read,  and  Smith  then  learned  the  nature  of 
the  charges  against  him.  After  setting  forth  the  general 
condition  of  the  church,  the  letter  grievously  complained 
that  one  of  their  preachers  had  departed  from  Baptist  usage 
in  several  particulars,  in  substance,  to-wit : 

1.  That,  while  it  is  the  custom  of  Baptists  to  use  as  the  Word 
of   God  King  James's,  translation,   he   had,  on  two  or  three 
occasions  in  public,  and  often  privately  in  his  family,  read  from 
Alexander  Campbell's  translation. 

2.  That,  while  it  is  the  custom  in  the  ceremony  of  baptism  to 
take  the  candidate  into  the  water,  and  solemnly  pronounce  the 
words,  "  I  baptize  you,  my  brother,  in  the  name  of  the  Father 
and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost"  he,  on  the  contrary,  is 
in  the  habit  of  saying,  "By  the  authority  of  Jesus  Christ,  I  im- 
merse you  into  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the 
Holy  Spirit:1 

"And  there  is  no  Ghost  in  it  at  all,"  indignantly  ex- 
claimed some  one  present. 

3.  That,  in  administering  the  Lord's  Supper,  while  it  is  the 
custom  of  the  Baptists  for  an  ordained  preacher  to  stand  at  the 
table  and  give  thanks,  and  break  the  loaf  into  bits,  or  morsels, 
small  enough  to  be  readily  taken  into  the  mouth,  and  then  for 
the  deacons  to  pass  these  around  in  a  plate,  or  some  like  con- 
venience, yet  he  leaves  the  bread  in  large  pieces,  teaching  that 
each  communicant  should  break  it  for  himself. 

As  some  ground  for  this  last  charge,  it  must  be  admitted 
that  Smith  had,  on  several  occasions,  declared,  that,  as 
Christ's  body  had  been  broken  for  all,  each  should  break 
the  loaf  for  himself;  that  anciently  the  disciples  came  to- 
gether to  break  bread  for  themselves,  and  not  to  see  it  done 
by  the  holier  fingers  of  some  preacher  or  priest. 

In  due  time  the  queries  and  complaints  of  the  several 
churches  were  taken  up.  As  other  congregations,  besides 
Lulbegrud,  complained  of  the  reading  of  the  New  Transla- 


1 84  LIFE   OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

tion,  they  proceeded,  first  of  all,  to  the  consideration  of 
that  offense,  as  understood  to  be  charged  against  John 
Smith. 

The  indictment  sent  up  by  Lulbegrud  closed  with  words 
like  these :  "  We  do  not  of  ourselves  know  that  any  brother 
has  been  guilty  of  all  these  departures  from  Baptist  usage ; 
but  we  have  been  so  assured  by  reliable  authority."  Hav- 
ing heard  the  accusations  again  read,  Smith  arose,  and, 
fixing  on  the  solemn  face  of  the  Moderator  a  look  of  kind 
but  defiant  humor,  he  remarked : 

"  My  brethren  from  Lulbegrud  need  not  feel  the  least 
concern  for  evidence  to  sustain  their  charges ;  I  plead 
guilty  to  them  all." 

According  to  the  usual  order  of  business,  the  considera- 
tion of  such  matters  should  have  been  postponed  till 
Monday.  But  an  impatient  spirit  of  controversy  seized 
the  Association ;  and  much  wrangling,  about  established 
usages  and  ancient  landmarks,  occurred  on  Saturday.  By 
a  rule  of  the  decorum,  no  member  was  allowed  to  speak 
more  than  twice  on  the  same  subject  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Association;  nor  more  than  once  on  any 
proposition,  until  all  had  spoken  that  might  wish  to 
speak. 

Smith  was  now  assailed  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the 
left;  for  there  were  more  than  fifty  messengers  present, 
and  every  speaker  among  them  rose  up  against  him.  He 
wasted  some  irony,  and  flung  away  upon  them  a  pearl  or 
two  of  truth  in  repartee  and  rejoinder,  during  the  earlier 
part  of  the  discussion,  intending  to  reply  at  length  after 
the  opposition  had  expended  all  its  strength.  But  by  this 
improvidence  of  speech  he  had  placed  himself  at  the  mercy 
of  his  enemies  ;  for,  when  he  came  to  make  his  defense  in 
form,  he  was  abruptly  called  to  order — he  had  already 
spoken  twice,  and  could  not  speak  again  without  the  con- 


FAILS  TO  GET  A  HEARING.  185 

sent  of  the  house.  He  now  begged  for  the  privilege  of 
replying  fully  to  the  things  that  had  been  said  against  him  ; 
but,  in  all  that  assembly  of  messengers,  he  had  not  one  friend 
to  support  so  reasonable  a  request.  He  sat  down,  with 
more  of  sorrow  than  of  anger  in  his  heart.  He  had  turned 
from  the  grave  of  his  child  to  come  and  brave  the  presence 
of  those  who  were  stirred  up  against  him ;  he  had  come  to 
defend  his  reputation,  and  to  conciliate,  if  he  could,  the 
opposition  that  he  had  provoked.  But  instead  of  receiving 
sympathy,  or  even  justice,  at  their  hands,  he  was  made  to 
feel  that  he  was  but  an  outlaw  among  his  brethren.  Yet 
he  continued  to  mingle,  without  offense,  in  their  little  social 
circles,  and  to  maintain,  under  all  the  provocations  of  the 
hour,  a  serene  mind  and  a  prudent  tongue. 

Just  before  the  adjournment,  on  Saturday,  the  Moderator 
announced  to  the  messengers  and  strangers  present,  that 
the  people  of  the  neighborhood  were  all  prepared  to  enter- 
tain them ;  and  that  they  must  feel  free  to  go  wherever 
they  wished,  for  they  would  find  a  Christian  welcome  every- 
where. Elder  Chenault's  residence  was  only  about  half  a 
mile  from  Cane  Spring — in  fact,  the  meeting-house  was  on 
his  farm — and  Smith,  supposing  that  his  more  influential 
opponents  would  lodge  with  him,  resolved  to  go  and  spend 
the  night  with  them.  He  thought  that  it  would  be  better 
for  the  cause  to  go  with  his  enemies  than  to  stay  and  enjoy 
the  company  of  his  friends.  He  had  learned,  also,  that 
certain  brethren  from  Cumberland  and  Wayne,  who  had 
come  as  corresponding  messengers,  would  be  at  the  elder's 
house  that  night,  and  he  wished  to  talk  with  them  about 
his  present  religious  views,  before  they  returned  home. 
He  said  to  his  wife,  therefore,  who  still  sat  in  the  meet- 
ing-house with  her  friends,  while  the  crowd  were  slowly 
dispersing  in  the  yard : 

"  Nancy,  several  brethren  are  here  from  our  old  home, 
16 


1 86  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

and  they  are  all  going  to  Brother  David's  to-night,  and  I 
intend  to  go  there  too." 

"  They  do  not  want  you  to  go,  Mr.  Smith,"  said  his  wife. 

"  I  know  it,  Nancy,"  replied  he,  "  and  that  is  one  reason 
why  I  want  to  go." 

"But,"  she  replied,  "I  have  not  been  invited,  and,  of 
course,  they  will  not  expect  me." 

Here  was  an  unexpected  dilemma.  He  could  not  ask 
his  wife  to  do  what  her  sense  of  propriety  forbade ;  and  yet, 
duty  to  himself  and  the  cause  required  him  to  be,  for  the 
night  at  least,  a  guest  of  the  Moderator. 

But  John  Smith  never  cared  for  dilemmas.  "  Will  you 
go,"  said  he,  "  if  Brother  Chenault  invites  you?" 

"  Certainly  I  will,"  said  his  wife. 

He  went  immediately  to  the  door,  and,  looking  over  the 
crowd  that  still  filled  the  yard,  discovered  the  Moderator 
just  passing  out  through  the  gate.  Standing  on  the  steps, 
he  called,  with  a  voice  which  all  the  people  heard : 

"  Brother  Chenault,  I  am  going  to  your  house,  to-night ; 
but-  my  wife  here  says  that  she  is  unwilling  to  go  unless 
you  invite  her." 

"  Come  along,  sister ;  come  along ! "  said  he ;  "  we  have 
nothing  against  yott." 

"  There,  Nancy ! "  said  he,  turning  to  his  wife,  "  Brother 
Davy  says  you  must  come  along.  Now,  let  us  go." 

And  to  David  Chenault's  they  went,  and,  of  course,  they 
were  most  kindly  received. 

He  met  his  opponents,  as  he  expected;  and  there,  too, 
he  found  messengers  from  the  Cumberland  River  Associ- 
sociation,  whose  esteem  he  wished,  if  possible,  to  retain. 

The  afternoon  was  warm,  and  chairs  were  brought  out 
and  placed  under  the  shade-trees  in  the  yard.  When  all 
were  seated,  he  began : 

"  Brother  Collier,  and  you  other  brethren  from  the  Cum- 


AT  ELDER   CHENAULT'S.  187 

berland  River  Association,  from  what  you  heard  to-day 
you  must  think  that  I  have  gone  wild  in  religious  matters. 
Here  around  me  sit  the  very  brethren  who  have  accused 
me ;  and  now  I  beg  them,  as  they  love  truth  and  justice, 
to  name  the  errors  that  I  have  committed.  Here,  at  least, 
I  may  have  the  liberty  of  speaking  in  my  own  defense." 

To  these  words  there  was  no  reply,  and  he  continued : 

"  Concerning  my  reading  of  the  New  Translation,  perhaps 
enough  was  said  to-day.  But  I  have  been  accused  also  of 
changing  the  formulary  words  of  baptism.  Brethren,  as  all 
authority  was  given  to  the  Son,  and  as  the  apostles  went 
forth  by  that  authority  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  to  im- 
merse, is  it  repugnant  to  good  sense,  or  to  the  Word  of 
God,  to  say,  now,  that  we  baptize  by  the  authority  of  Jesus 
Christ?  Will  you,  who  condemn  me,  tell  me,  too,  if  you 
can,  the  difference  between  baptizing  and  immersing? 
And,  finally,  is  not  a  ghost  the  spirit  of  a  dead  man  ?  Is 
it  not  a  term  unfit  to  be  applied  to  the  Holy  Spirit  ?  Do 
you  say  that  a  man  must  be  born  of  water  and  of  the 
ghost?  Or,  that  God  is  a  ghost,  and  that  we  must  worship 
him  as  such?" 

He  discussed  these  points  fully,  but  he  could  elicit  noth- 
ing in  reply. 

He  then  spoke  of  his  manner  of  distributing  the  loaf, 
and  showed  that  it  was  consonant  with  Scripture  and  rea- 
son for  the  disciples  themselves  to  break  the  loaf,  which  is 
but  an  emblem  of  the  body  that  was  broken  for  them. 
John  Taylor,  who  was  present,  and  had  sat  an  attentive 
listener  all  the  time,  now  remarked,  with  emphasis : 

"  Brethren,  I  believe  that  on  this  point  Brother  Smith  is 
right,  and  I  shall  introduce  his  mode  of  breaking  bread 
among  my  own  churches." 

Stephen  Collier  also  approved ;  but  the  rest  were  silent. 
Smith  then  turned  to  his  opposers,  and  earnestly  entreated 


1 88  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

them  to  point  out  a  single  departure  that  he  had  made  from 
Baptist  usage,  except  where  Baptist  usage  had  departed 
from  the  Word  of  God.  Still  they  made  him  no  reply.  , 

"  Then,  brethren  of  the  Cumberland  Association,"  said 
he,  with  earnest  dignity  of  manner,  "  you  may  go  home, 
and  tell  those  who  know  me  there,  and  whom  I  still  love 
as  I  did,  exactly  where  I  stand" 

On  Monday,  the  complaints  of  Lulbegrud  were  formally 
taken  up.  One  after  another  of  his  opponents  arose,  and, 
waxing  warm  with  zeal,  boldly  asserted  that  the  New 
Translation  was  not  the  Word  of  God.  The  Moderator 
sat  upon  his  chair,  gathering  warmth  and  strength  for  the 
final  blow.  When  each  less  distinguished  brother  had 
spoken,  he  called  some  one  to  preside,  and  descending  to 
the  floor,  closed  the  argument  against  the  translation  by 
saying  that  he  had  never  seen  the  book,  and  never  wished 
to  see  it.  "But  Elder  Waller,"  said  he,  "did  right  when 
he  burnt  it  to  ashes."  That  elder,  it  seems,  after  com- 
paring the  translation  with  the  common  version,  had  burnt 
it  in  January. 

Smith  at  last  gained  the  floor.  The  love  of  truth  and 
of  his  brethren,  mingling  in  a  heart  chastened  by  recent 
affliction,  and  humbled  by  a  sense  of  loneliness,  made  him 
eloquent.  Having  replied  to  the  charges,  and  rebuked  the 
unkind  spirit  that  had  assailed  him,  he  turned  in  conclusion 
to  a  certain  elder  that  had  declared  the  King's  version  to 
be  the  only  Word  of  God,  and  asked  whether  he  really 
meant  to  say  it. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  elder,  bravely,  "  I  said  so,  and  I  still 
say  it." 

"  How  long,  my  brother,"  said  Smith,  "has  it  been  since 
the  king  made  his  translation  ? " 

"  I  do  n't  know,"  said  the  elder,  defiantly  ignorant. 

"  Was  it  not  about  two  hundred  and  twenty  years  ago  ? " 


WRATH  OF  HIS  ENEMIES.  189 

asked  Smith  of  the  clerk,  who,  perhaps,  had  read  more 
than  his  brethren. 
.  "  I  believe  it  has  been  about  that  time,"  he  replied. 

"Then,  is  it  not  a  pity,"  continued  Smith,  "that  the 
apostles  left  the  world  and  the  Church  without  any  Word 
of  God  for  fifteen  hundred  years  ?  for,  as  these  intelligent 
citizens  around  me  know,  they  wrote  in  Greek,  without  the 
least  knowledge  of  the  language  into  which  King  James, 
fifteen  hundred  years  afterward,  had  their  writings  trans- 
lated !  But,  if  nothing  is  the  Word  of  God  but  the  King's 
version,  do  you  not,  brethren,  pity  the  Dutch,  who  have 
not  that  version,  and  who  could  not  read  one  word  of  it, 
if  they  had  it  ? " 

His  remarks  produced  a  fine  impression  on  the  minds 
of  the  people  that  crowded  the  house.  In  fact,  the  mani- 
festations of  sympathy  for  him  were  unrestrained,  and 
some  disorder  ensued.  Excited  by  the  fact,  which  could 
not  be  disguised,  that  the  verdict  of  the  people  was  in 
his  favor,  the  anger  of  his  opponents  waxed  hot.  Some 
scowled  upon  him ;  and  one,  unable  to  bear  it  any  longer, 
suddenly  sprang  to  his  feet.  He  gnashed  his  teeth,  and 
stamping  the  floor,  exclaimed : 

"  Brother  Moderator,  I  can  not  stand  it !  I  would  rather 
die  than  be  run  over  in  this  way  by  a  Campbellite ! "  and 
he  shook  his  orthodox  fist  in  the  Campbellite's  face. 

Smith,  who  had,  during  the  whole  of  this  extraordinary 
scene,  preserved  a  kind  and  tranquil  temper,  turned  this 
last  indiscretion  to  the  benefit  of  the  cause. 

"  Brother  Moderator,"  said  he,  dispassionately,  "  I  came 
here  to  defend  myself  against  charges  of  wrong-doing,  that, 
I  feared,  might  affect  my  usefulness,  if  they  were  not  re- 
futed. I  have  stood  for  two  days  before  you,  alone,  and, 
accused  by  all  my  brethren,  trying,  in  the  very  presence  of 
an  overwhelming  opposition,  to  vindicate  an  humble  name 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

from  the  charge  of  infidelity  to  the  truth  I  love.  But, 
friends,"  said  he,  turning  to  the  audience,  "if  this  is  the 
fruit  of  that  Spirit  whose  influence  in  conversion  I  am 
charged  with  denying,  then  do  I  plead  guilty  to  that 
charge.  For,  whether  such  a  spirit  as  this  is  from  God  or 
not,  I  leave  you  all  to  judge." 

Fifteen  or  twenty  of  the  more  influential  brethren  now 
withdrew  to  consult  together,  requesting  the  Association 
to  remain  in  session  till  they  returned.  They  concluded 
that  John  Smith  was  too  good  and  great  a  man  to  be  spared 
from  the  Church,  and  too  wise  to  fall  away  into  any  dan- 
gerous heresies ;  and  that  time  should  be  allowed  him  for 
reflection.  They  agreed,  therefore,  to  recommend  that  the 
whole  matter  be  laid  over  for  one  year,  feeling  assured 
that  by  that  time  the  heresy  of  Campbellism  would  be  for- 
gotten, and  Smith  would  return  to  the  faith  of  his  fathers. 

The  Association,  without  debate,  adopted  the  sugges- 
tion ;  they  added,  however,  a  protest  against  any  transla- 
tion of  the  Scriptures  except  that  which  was  in  common 
use,  and  they  advised  the  sister  churches  to  do  likewise. 

They  then  adjourned,  to  meet  again  at  Lulbegrud,  on 
the  fourth  Saturday  in  July,  1828. 


WORKS  ON  HIS  FARM.  191 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Works  on  his  Farm — Change  of  Purpose — Jane  Coons  and  her  Father — Arouses 
the  People — His  power  with  the  Young — His  zeal  outruns  his  strength — 
Preachers  laboring  under  great  bodily  difficulties. 

JOHN  SMITH  returned  home,  and  began  to  reflect  on  his 
recent  experience.  His  reply  to  his  brethren,  at  Cane 
Spring,  had  won  for  him  friends  among  those  who  were 
without;  but  he  looked  over  the  District  in  vain  to  find 
one  minister  to  whom  he  could  go  for  counsel  or  support. 
His  financial  embarrassments  continued  to  weigh  heavily 
upon  his  heart.  His  bank  debt,  still  unpaid,  destroyed  his 
peace  of  mind  ;  and,  though  indulgence  had  been  given, 
it  served  only  to  protract  his  disquietude.  There  was  no 
prospect  of  help  from  the  churches,  nor,  indeed,  from  any 
other  source ;  so  that  he  was  left  to  bear  all  his  burdens 
alone.  After  consultation  with  his  wife,  he  resolved,  first  of 
all,  to  release  himself  from  debt.  But,  to  do  this,  he  must 
stay  at  home,  and,  dispensing  with  hired  help,  cultivate 
his  farm  with  his  own  hands.  He  had  once  thought  of 
giving  up  all  that  he  had,  and  of  returning,  penniless,  to 
the  frontier  whence  he  came ;  but  the  reflection  that  such 
a  course,  now,  would  seem  to  be  an  abandonment  of  the 
truth  which  he  had  professed,  or  an  ignoble  flight  from 
persecution  on  its  account,  forced  him  to  dismiss  the 
thought.  He  took  up  his  ax,  and  went  out  to  work. 


IQ2  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Day  after  day,  he  toiled  alone  in  the  woods,  with  n  oil 
and  wedge  and  handspike,  from  early  dawn  till  the  stars 
came  out  at  night.  He  thus  worked  on  until  the  close 
of  the  year  1827,  when  God,  who  had  called  and  pre- 
pared him  to  preach  the  Gospel  of  His  Son,  now,  by  one 
of  those  mysterious,  but  not  uncommon,  impulses  which 
move  like  inspiration,  took  him  away  from  his  log-heaps, 
and  brought  him  to  stand  before  the  people  once  more. 

One  day,  in  the  month  of  January,  as  he  was  bending 
to  his  labors  in  those  lonesome,  sleety  woods,  he  thought 
of  the  cause  that  he  loved,  and  remembered  that  there  was 
no  one  in  all  the  land  to  advocate  it  but  himself.  He 
thought,  too,  of  the  prediction  made  at  Cane  Spring — that 
in  one  year  he  would  see  his  errors,  and  the  heresy  which 
he  had  preached  would  be  forgotten.  The  storm,  it  was  true, 
had  subsided  ;  but  would  not  his  silence  now  be  construed 
as  an  acknowledgment  that  he  had  erred  ?  He  threw  down 
his  ax  at  the  thought,  and  went  to  his  house ;  he  dropped 
off  his  coarse  apron  at  the  feet  of  his  wife  ;  and,  filled  with 
enthusiasm,  he  exclaimed : 

"  Nancy,  I  shall  work  no  more !  Get  whom  you  please 
to  carry  on  the  farm,  but  do  not  call  on  me !  In  all  the  land, 
there  is  not  one  soul  to  open  his  mouth  in  defense  of  the 
best  cause  under  the  sun  !  I  am  determined,  from  this 
time  forth,  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  leave  the  conse- 
quences to  God." 

His  wife  had  cordially  entered  with  him  into  all  his  lit- 
tle schemes  of  economy  and  finance,  and,  with  frugal  and 
industrious  hands,  had  been  toiling  and  saving  to  help  him 
pay  off  his  debt.  Now,  she  as  readily  caught  his  new  spirit, 
and  as  cheerfully  accepted  the  responsibilities  of  her  new 
position — agreeing  to  carry  on  the  farm,  to  provide  for  the 
family,  and  to  relieve  him  of  every  temporal  care,  while  he 
should  give  himself  wholly  to  the  preaching  of  the  Word. 


CHANGE  OF  PURPOSE.  193 

So  thoroughly  in  earnest  was  he,  that  he  did  not  wait 
for  opportunity  or  occasion  to  begin  his  work.  A  mile  or 
two  off  was  the  school-house  of  a  young  man  named  Ab- 
salom Rice,  whom  he  had  already  baptized.  He  walked 
over,  and  requested  the  master  to  announce,  through  the 
children,  that  he  would  preach  that  evening  at  the  house 
of  a  neighbor  by  the  name  of  Mosley,  and  that  he  wished 
all  to  come  and  hear  him.  Returning  to  his  house,  he  sat 
down,  and,  with  his  wife's  assistance,  arranged  the  order 
of  his  appointments  for  the  week.  Possibly,  he  might  be 
rejected  from  the  houses  of  the  people  ;  for  it  was  gener- 
ally understood,  that,  though  the  further  consideration  of 
the  charges  against  him  had  been  postponed  for  a  year, 
yet  he  was  virtually  under  the  censure  of  the  Association. 
It  required  no  little  courage,  on  the  part  of  his  brethren, 
to  open  their  houses  to  him,  that  he  might  inculcate  the 
very  heresies  for  which  he  had  been  already  condemned. 
Fortunately,  many  of  his  neighbors  were  members  of  the 
church  at  Spencer, — a  congregation  composed  at  first,  as 
we  have  said,  of  Separate  Baptists,  and  constituted  on  the 
Scriptures  alone.  They,  consequently,  had  but  little  re- 
gard for  distinctive,  speculative  dogmas.  Before  that  con- 
gregation, it  will  be  remembered,  he  had  first  publicly 
avowed  his  dissatisfaction  with  Calvinism ;  and  there,  too, 
he  had  first  baptized  penitent  believers  on  the  simple  pro- 
fession of  their  faith  in  Jesus. 

Among  the  first  fruits  of  the  Ancient  Gospel  at  Spen- 
cer, were  Jacob  Coons  and  Absalom  Rice — two  young 
men,  who  presented  themselves  for  immersion,  the  for- 
mer in  1825,  the  latter,  not  long  afterward.  They  had 
been  diligent  students  of  the  Scriptures,  and  had  learned 
to  discriminate  between  the  facts  of  the  Gospel  and  the 
speculations  of  men.  Smith  had  sympathized  with  them 
through  all  the  stages  of  their  spiritual  development,  and 
17 


194  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

had  anxiously  watched  till  the  Christ  was  formed  within 
them. 

When  young  Coons  came  forward,  Smith,  who  had  ex- 
tended the  invitation,  told  him  to  go  on  in  his  own  way, 
and  say  to  the  church  whatever  he  pleased.  The  candi- 
date remarked  that  he  had  been,  for  some  time,  concerned 
on  the  subject  of  religion,  but  had  seen  no  strange  sights 
and  had  heard  no  strange  sounds  ;  that  he  believed  with 
all  his  heart  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ,  and  wished  to  obey 
him. 

Smith  arose  and  said :  "Brethren,  with  the  Bible  in  my 
hand,  if  I  were  to  die  for  it,  I  do  not  know  what  other 
question  to  ask  him ! "  Coons  was  examined  no  further, 
but  was  admitted  to  baptism  on  that  simple  confession. 
This  incident,  occurring  as  early  as  October,  1825,  and 
taking  place  with  the  approbation  of  a  church  that  had 
no  constitution  or  creed  but  the  inspired  Word,  may 
be  recorded  as  the  first  exemplification  of  the  Ancient 
Order  within  the  bounds  of  the  District,  if  not  of  the 
State. 

Jacob  Coons  had,  some  time  before  his  immersion,  mar- 
ried the  daughter  of  a  Presbyterian  clergyman,  who  lived 
in  the  neighborhood.  She  had  been  baptized  in  her  infancy; 
but  at  the  time  of  her  marriage,  she  was  a  thoughtless, 
worldly-minded  woman.  Jacob's  immersion  displeased  her 
family,  who  had  hoped  to  see  him  one  day  in  full  religious 
accord  with  his  wife.  Fearing  now  that  the  influence  of  his 
example  and  teaching  might  lead  her  from  the  faith  of  her 
church,  they  let  pass  no  opportunity  of  confirming  her  in  her 
early  religious  belief.  They  loaned  her  books  and  pamphlets, 
and  urged  her  to  read  them  with  her  husband,  for  whose 
salvation  also  they  seemed  to  feel  a  deep  concern.  They 
recommended  especially  to  her  perusal  a  tract  by  Finley 
on  the  doctrine  of  Infant  Church  Membership.  The  im- 


JANE  COONS.  195 

pression  which  that  pamphlet  made  on  her  mind,  disturbed 
Jacob ;  for,  after  reading  it,  she  declared,  with  emphasis, 
that  it  was  God's  truth.  In  his  perplexity,  he  laid  the  mat- 
ter before  Smith,  and  begged  his  advice. 

"Does  your  wife  profess  to  be  a  Christian  ?"  Smith  in- 
quired. 

"  She  acknowledges  that  she  is  a  vain  and  giddy  crea- 
ture," said  he ;  "and  she  even  confessed  to  me  the  other 
day  that  she  was  a  great  sinner." 

"Inquire  of  her,  then,  whether  she  is  in  the  Church  or 
not.  If  she  says  that  she  is,  ask  her  if  it  is  right  for  such 
a  sinner  to  be  in  the  Church  of  God :  if  she  says  that  she 
is  not,  then  ask  her  when  they  turned  her  out." 

Jacob  did  as  he  was  instructed  ;  his  wife  denied  that  she 
was  a  member  of  the  Church,  but  was  confounded  when 
asked  when  and  why  they  had  excluded  her. 

In  her  perplexity,  she  went  to  see  her  father,  and  Jacob, 
anxious  for  truth's  sake  and  his  wife's,  went  along  with  her, 
to  hear  the  explanation. 

"  Father,"  said  Jane,  "  am  I  a  member  of  the  Church  ? " 

"  Yes,  my  daughter,  I  initiated  you  when  you  were  an 
infant." 

"  But,  father,  you  know  that  I  have  always  been  a  worldly- 
minded  girl ;  do  you  think  that  it  is  right  for  me  to  say 
that  I  am  in  the  Church  ?  " 

"Daughter,"  replied  he,  "you  remember  that,  in  the 
Church,  there  are  both  tares  and  wheat ;  so  the  Savior 
teaches  in  the  parable.  You  are  but  a  tare,  Jane  !  you  are 
but  a  tare,  I  fear ! " 

This  was  satisfactory  to  her ;  but  Jacob,  still  perplexed, 
reported,  the  next  day,  the  whole  matter  to  his  friend  and 
pastor.  After  receiving  from  him  the  proper  counsel,  he 
returned  home. 

"Jane,"  said  he,  carefully  following  the  advice  of  Smith, 


196  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"didn't  your  father  say  that  he  had  put  you  into  the 
Church  when  you  were  a  child  ? " 

"Yes,  but  he  said  that  I  was  only  a  tare,"  replied  his 
wife. 

"  Your  father  surely  could  not  have  put  you  there,  Jane  ; 
for  the  Book  says,  He  that  sows  the  tares  is  the  devil! " 

Jane  read,  and  forthwith  went  again  to  her  father  to  have 
this  startling  difficulty  solved. 

"  Father,"  said  she,  "  did  you  not  tell  me  that  you  had 
initiated  me  into  the  Church  yourself?" 

"  Yes,  my  daughter ;  but  what  is  it  that  bothers  you 
now  ? " 

"  Why,  father,  look  !    He  that  sows  the  tares  is  the  devil!  " 

The  old  man  looked  at  the  passage,  and,  groaning  aloud, 
began  to  walk  the  floor ;  but  he  made  his  daughter  no  reply. 

From  that  time,  Jane  listened  to  her  husband's  exposi- 
tions of  Scripture,  and,  under  his  teachings,  soon  pre- 
sented herself  for  immersion. 

Absalom  Rice,  early  taught  by  pious  parents  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church  to  love  the  Scriptures,  had  long  sought  reli- 
gion according  to  the  manner  of  the  times  ;  but  not  ex- 
periencing the  usual  operations  of  the  Spirit,  he  had  stood 
aloof  from  the  Church,  though  assured  by  his  teachers  that 
it  was  unnecessary  for  some  persons  to  wait  for  special 
manifestations.  Still,  his  theory  of  religion  demanded  a 
miraculous  evidence  of  the  Divine  favor,  and  he  had  prayed 
continually  for  it.  But  his  well-balanced  temperament  un- 
fitted him  for  such  experiences  ;  so  that,  after  fervent  pray- 
ing, and  long  waiting,  he  had  renounced  his  theory,  and, 
taking  up  his  New  Testament,  resolved  to  do  what  it  en- 
joined. Just  at  that  time,  John  Smith,  from  the  pulpit  at 
Spencer,  began  to  preach  a  simple,  evangelical  Christianity, 
and  Absalom  Rice,  and  his  wife,  another  close  student 
of  the  Word,  confessed  their  faith  in  Jesus  as  the  Mes- 


AROUSES   TEE  PEOPLE.  1 97 

siah  of  God,  and  were  immersed  for  the  remission  of  their 
sins.* 

A  few  other  such  spirits  had  early  been  brought  in  un- 
der the  influence  of  John  Smith's  teaching ;  and  now,  in 
the  beginning  of  the  year  1828,  they  were  ready  to  open 
their  houses  to  him  and  welcome  him  to  his  appointments. 
He  exhorted  his  brethren,  that  came  to  hear  him,  to  throw 
away  their  creeds  as  bonds  of  union,  and  to  adopt  the  Bi- 
ble alone  as  the  standard  of  their  faith  and  practice.  He 
called  on  sinners  to  believe  and  obey  the  Gospel,  declaring 
that  Christ  died  for  all,  and  that  whoever  would  believe  on 
the  simple  testimony  of  God's  witnesses,  and  obey  him  in 
immersion,  would  enjoy  the  pardon  of  his  sins.  He  urged 
all,  saint  and  sinner  alike,  to  read  and  to  reflect  for  them- 
selves, and  not  to  be  led  off  into  idle  speculations  by  a 
partisan  clergy.  The  country  around  soon  blazed  with  ex- 
citement. Many  listened  with  good  and  honest  hearts,  and 
searched  the  Scriptures  to  see  whether  these  things  were 
so.  The  field  of  his  labors  gradually  widened,  until  all 
the  churches  of  the  county  felt  the  influence  of  his  zeal. 
As  soon  as  the  season  permitted,  he  met  the  people  in 
the  woods ;  and,  from  the  rude  stand,  or  the  trunk  of  a 
fallen  tree,  he  proclaimed,  the  Gospel  in  its  simplicity  and 
power.  At  Spencer,  he  soon  baptized  other  believers  upon 
a  profession  of  their  faith  in  Jesus ;  and  converts  to  his  doc- 
trine, by  hundreds;  gathered  around  him.  They  caught 


*  In  1831,  Absalom  Rice  removed  to  Callaway  County,  in  the  State  of  Missouri. 
There  was  at  that  time,  in  the  county,  but  one  church  organized  on  the  Scriptures 
alone;  it  was  a  small  congregation,  about  twenty  miles  distant  from  his  residence. 
In  a  short  time,  other  friends  moved  out  from  Kentucky  and  settled  in  his  neigh- 
borhood; and,  in  1833,  a  Church  was  organized,  of  which  he  took  the  oversight; 
the  cause  prospered  greatly  under  his  ministrations.  He  still  lives — 1870 — and, 
though  more  than  three  score  and  ten,  still  preaches  the  same  Gospel  that  he  heard 
at  old  Spencer  in  1825,  from  the  lips  of  John  Smith. 


198  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

his  own  spirit ;  and  in  the  ardor  of  their  enthusiasm,  and, 
according  to  the  measure  of  their  knowledge  and  ability, 
went  every- where  preaching  the  same  Gospel.  It  was  not 
unusual  for  his  new  religious  friends — men  and  women — 
to  quit  their  ordinary  business,  and  to  go  from  house  to 
house,  or  from  grove  to  grove,  and,  appealing  to  the  Scrip- 
tures as  their  only  authority — a  copy  of  which  they  always 
carried  in  pocket  or  satchel, — to  plead  for  the  Ancient  Gos- 
pel and  the  Ancient  Order  of  Things. 

When  the  leaven  began  thus  to  work  among  the  churches, 
some  of  his  friends  came  to  him,  and  tried  to  dissuade  him 
from  preaching  with  so  much  boldness  and  warmth.  "  Your 
more  influential  Baptist  brethren,"  said  they,  "  will  aban- 
don you  ;  you  will  get  nothing  for  your  preaching ;  your 
debt  will  press  you  to  the  earth  ;  and  your  farm  and  home 
must  eventually  be  given  up." 

"  Conscience,"  said  he,  "  is  an  article  that  I  have  never 
yet  brought  into  market ;  but,  should  I  offer  it  for  sale, 
Montgomery  County,  with  all  its  lands  and  houses,  would 
not  be  enough  to  buy  it,  much  less  that  farm  of  one  hun- 
dred acres." 

His  old  Calvinistic  brethren,  who  feared  to  meet  him 
in  debate,  tried  to  impede  the  progress  of  the  new  heresy 
by  censuring  or  ridiculing  the  young,  who,  generally,  were 
the  first  to  accept  his  teachings.  When  they  met  a  young 
Reformer  by  himself,  they  would  assail  him  with  reproof 
and  argument,  perplex  him  with  obscure  texts  of  Holy  Writ, 
and  overpower  him  with  ponderous  words  about  Predes- 
tination and  Free  Will.  No  art,  either,  was  left  untried  to 
entice  them  back  into  the  old  paths  again.  But  when  dis- 
comfited by  these  attacks,  the  young  disciples  would  go 
to  their  pastor,  sometimes  by  night,  and,  supplying  them- 
selves with  weapons  from  his  arsenal,  turn  upon  their  op- 
ponents with  fresh  courage,  and  put  them  to  flight.  A 


"THUS  SAITH  TEE  LORD."  199 

young  man  who  lived  about  two  miles  from  Smith's  house, 
having  embraced  the  new  faith,  found  himself,  one  evening, 
while  debating  with  the  family,  sadly  in  want  of  an  argu- 
ment to  sustain  his  position :  leaving  the  fireside  abruptly, 
he  ran  to  the  house  of  his  pastor,  and,  getting  from  him  the 
proof  that  he  needed,  returned,  and,  almost  in  the  same 
hour,  silenced  the  logic  of  his  Calvinistic  father.  Whenever 
Smith  paused  for  awhile  in  his  labors,  and  came  home  to 
seek  a  day's  rest  in  the  bosom  of  his  family,  his  young 
brethren  flocked  around  him,  and  he  often  wore  away  the 
nights  of  his  sojourn  in  giving  them  counsel  and  instruc- 
tion. 

Taught  by  observation,  and  his  own  experience,  how 
prone  young  minds  are  to  lean  with  almost  religious  trust 
on  the  preacher,  he  tried  to  save  them  from  such  a  bond- 
age to  human  authority  by  leading  them  to  the  Scriptures 
as  the  only  Oracle  of  God.  He  would  tell  them  that  he 
had  unconsciously  preached  error  for  many  years  to  people 
that  never  knew  it,  simply  because  he  and  they  were  alike 
ignorant  of  the  Scriptures ;  but  that,  now,  since  they  had 
discarded  all  human  creeds,  and  professed  to  stand  together 
on  the  Bible  alone,  it  behooved  them  to  read  it  by  day  and 
to  meditate  on  it  by  night ;  and  to  be  ready,  at  all  times, 
to  cite  a  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord "  for  every  thing  that  they 
held  as  faith,  or  imposed  on  others  as  duty.  Such  exhor- 
tations, no  less  than  the  opposition  of  brethren,  filled  the 
churches  with  students  of  the  Scriptures.  They  soon  be- 
came distinguished  for  their  knowledge  and  love  of  the 
Truth,  and  for  the  readiness  with  which  they  quoted  and 
applied  the  Word. 

He  preached  at  least  two  discourses  every  day,  besides 
filling  his  regular  appointments  at  Spencer,  Mount  Sterling, 
and  Grassy  Lick ;  for  those  meeting-houses  were  still  open 
to  him.  He  soon  began  to  meet  vast  crowds  of  hearers, 


20O  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

who  listened  to  him  with  the  most  intense  interest.  Many 
came  a  great  distance  to  hear  him  contrast  the  Gospel  with 
the  old  systems  of  religion,  as  expounded  by  the  clergy  of 
the  times.  At  all  these  meetings  he  was  without  assist- 
ance. None  of  his  ministerial  brethren  ventured,  as  yet, 
to  stand  up  with  him  before  the  people.  Exhaustive  as  his 
arguments  were,  they  aroused,  but  did  not  satisfy  inquiry. 
When  he  closed  a  meeting,  the  young,  who  wished  to  learn, 
and  the  old,  who  would  refute,  still  gathered  around  him 
and  pressed  their  earnest  questions  on  him.  They  crowded 
to  his  side  as  he  rode  along  the  highways.  Little  congre- 
gations followed  him  from  house  to  house,  and  sat  with  him 
at  hospitable  firesides,  where  he  himself  was  but  a  guest, 
and  hung  on  his  words  till  the  night  was  far  spent. 

He  often  baptized,  at  night,  those  who  had  made  a  pro- 
fession of  their  faith  during  the  day ;  for  he  could  seldom 
tarry  till  the  morning,  and  he  did  not  think  it  right  to  post- 
pone obedience  to  the  Lord's  command.  Many  a  night, 
in  that  memorable  year,  the  torches  and  lanterns  of  the 
multitudes  flared  on  the  ghostly  sycamores  that  grew  along 
the  streams,  while  soul-stirring  songs,  from  hundreds  of 
voices,  rolled  over  the  waters,  and  died  away  in  the  dark 
and  distant  forests. 

His  intemperate  zeal  threatened,  at  last,  to  bring  on 
disease.  But  he  disregarded  sickness,  and  moved  forward 
in  his  work  with  an  enthusiasm  that  never  languished.  He 
was  once  seized  with  a  painful  disorder  while  on  his  way 
to  his  regular  meeting  at  Grassy  Lick.  A  great  crowd  was 
expecting  him,  for  it  was  to  be  an  important  occasion.  He 
had  many  friends  in  that  church,  but  he  had  not  yet 
baptized  any  converts  in  the  neighborhood.  Now  he  was 
about  to  make  an  earnest  appeal  to  the  young  men  about 
Grassy  Lick,  some  of  whom,  he  knew,  already  believed. 
When  he  came  upon  the  ground,  he  was  pale  and  tremulous 


INTEMPERATE  ZEAL.  2OI 

from  exhaustion,  and  he  had  to  confess  that  he  was  unable 
to  preach.  He  lay  down  to  rest  in  the  yard  near  the  house, 
while  the  congregation,  broken  into  little,  social  groups, 
dispersed  through  the  grove.  As  he  lay  there,  faint  and 
suffering,  he  overheard  a  conversation  between  Reuben 
McDannold,  a  firm  Calvinist,  and  General  Samuel  L.  Wil- 
liams, who,  though  not  a  member  of  the  church,  was  one 
of  his  most  devoted  personal  friends,  and  in  full  sympathy 
with  his  religious  views. 

"Why  -is  it,  General,"  said  McDannold,  "that,  while 
brother  Smith  has  immersed  so  many  at  Mount  Sterling, 
and  Spencer,  and  other  places,  he  has  not  baptized  a  single 
man  at  Grassy  Lick?" 

"  I  will  tell  you,"  replied  the  General ;  "  your  brethren 
long  ago  taught  us  that  we  can  do  nothing  of  ourselves, 
but  that  we  must  all  wait  the  Lord's  time." 

"  But  that  can  not  be  the  reason,  at  least,  for  your  own 
impenitence,  General,"  replied  the  Calvinist ;  "  for  you  say 
that  you  do  not  believe  our  Gospel,  and  yet  you  refuse  to 
be  saved  even  by  your  own ! " 

"  True,"  replied  he,  "  I  do  not  believe  one  word  of  your 
doctrine ;  but  your  preachers  have  so  hammered  it  into  the 
people,  that,  though  we  now  reject  it  as  absurd,  we  still 
strangely  act  under  its  influence." 

This  conversation  aroused  the  sick  man,  and  he  now 
went  into  the  house,  nerved  by  the  thought  that,  perhaps, 
many  of  the  people  of  Grassy  Lick  were,  like  his  friend, 
still  under  the  influence  of  errors  that  they  had  already 
renounced.  The  multitude  crowded  in  after  him  ;  inspiring 
songs  arose,  and  the  speaker,  who  seemed  to  be  moved  by 
some  supernatural  energy,  ascended  the  pulpit.  He  began 
his  argument ;  but  the  excitement  soon  overcame  him,  and 
he  begged  his  audience  to  indulge  him  in  a  moment's  rest. 
Eight  times  thus,  during  the  delivery  of  that  discourse,. 


2O2  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

distressing  paroxysms  forced  him  down ;  but  he  as  often 
rallied  his  prostrate  energies,  and  went  on  with  his  argu- 
ment. During  this  singular  strife  between  the  spirit  and 
the  flesh,  his  brethren  frequently  remonstrated,  and  begged 
him  to  desist,  but  without  effect.  A  physician  of  the  neigh- 
borhood, also,  in  vain  warned  him  of  the  probable  conse- 
quences of  his  indiscretion.  He  still  spoke  on,  though  in 
pain  and  weakness,  till,  with  a  most  persuasive  exhortation, 
he  closed  his  address.  Many  were  that  day  convinced  of 
error,  or  of  sin ;  and  a  generous  revival  soon  warmed  up 
even  the  good  old  Calvinists  of  Grassy  Lick. 


CREEDS,  NOT  BONDS  OF  UNION.  2O3 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

The  Insufficiency  of  Creeds  as  Bonds  of  Union — Particular  Baptists — Schisms — A 
Church  tossed  by  Winds  of  Doctrine — John  Smith  and  Elder  Thomas — Smith 
boldly  assails  Creeds — The  Ancient  Gospel — Ancient  Order — Friends  multiply 
around  him — Letter  of  James  Mason — Tbe  Orthodox  alarmed — Ambrose 
Dudley  at  Grassy  Lick — His  Argument  and  Smith's  Reply — Lewis  Corbifl  at 
Mount  Sterling — Speculation  exposed — Smith's  manner  of  meeting  the  Oppo- 
sition— He  shakes  hands  with  an  enemy. 

ALTHOUGH  the  Union  of  1801,  on  the  Terms  already 
given  to  the  reader,  had  been  cordially  ratified  by  the 
Separate  Baptists  of  Kentucky,  and  by  all  of  the  forty-six 
churches  of  the  Elkhorn  Association,  save  one,  yet  the 
weakness  of  the  bond  that  held  them  together  soon  be- 
came apparent. 

Not  long  after  the  act  of  union,  several  churches  were 
dropped  from  the  Associations  to  which  they  belonged,  on 
account  of  their  Unitarian  sentiments.  Many  persons  were 
excluded  for  unsound  opinions  concerning  the  future  pun- 
ishment of  the  wicked.  The  Emancipationists,  generally, 
withdrew  from  the  Union,  and,  being  numerous,  constituted 
themselves  into  an  independent  body,  under  the  leadership 
of  David  Barrow  and  others.  But  the  most  serious  defec- 
tion was  the  withdrawal  of  several  prominent  ministers  and 
influential  churches  from  the  Elkhorn  Association,  and  the 
formation  of  a  new  and,  for  some  time,  antagonistic  body, 
under  the  name  of  the  Licking  Association  of  Particular 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Baptists.  This  separation  grew  out  of  certain  matters  of 
discipline,  which,  in  the  beginning,  concerned  but  a  single 
congregation — the  same,  by-the-by,  that  had  opposed  the 
union  in  1801.  But  other  churches,  the  press,  and,  finally, 
the  entire  Association  were  involved  in  the  controversy. 
The  withdrawing  ministers,  holding  to  the  dogma  of  "  Par- 
ticular Atonement,"  styled  themselves  Particiilar  Baptists, 
generously  providing  that  their  new  name  should  not  be 
allowed  to  interrupt  their  correspondence  with  such 
churches  as  might  choose  to  remain  in  the  Union.  They 
held  strictly  to  every  item  of  doctrine  as  set  forth  in  the 
creed  of  the  Regular  Baptists,  and  condemned,  in  strong 
language,  those  who  departed  therefrom. 

"  The  day  in  which  we  live,"  said  they,  in  1 8 1 8,  "  is  dark 
and  gloomy;  many  are  engaged  in  corrupting  the  Scrip- 
tures, by  propagating  doctrines  to  seduce  the  people  from 
the  truths  of  the  Gospel.  The  pretender — who  tells  you. 
that  Christ  died  for  the  sins  of  all  the  world,  and  who  says 
that  he  has  Christ  and  salvation  to  offer  you  on  the  condi- 
tion of  your  obedience,  faith,  and  repentance,  set  him  down 
as  a  blind  guide." 

"  Some  of  the  churches,"  continued  they,  referring  to  the 
•more  liberal  Baptists,  "  are  in  the  habit  of  receiving  mem- 
bers without  special  examination ;  some  of  those  received, 
perhaps,  holding  to  the  doctrine  of  particular  unconditional 
election,  while  others  hold  to  that  of  conditional  election. 
This  brings  on  schisms  and  divisions  in  the  body. 

"  See  the  corruption  and  errors  of  doctrine  and  discipline 
that  have  already  crept  into  society,  and  the  further  inno- 
vations that  they  are  still  making!  And  yet,  degenerate 
sons  of  the  Church  are  constituting  churches  vaguely  on 
the  Bible,  as  if  the  words  and  doctrines  of  that  precious 
book  had  no  definite  meaning  attached  to  them !  This  is 
calculated  to  open  the  flood-gates  of  error,  and  to  increase 


SCHISMS.  205 

numbers  at  the  expense  of  the  truth.  Avoid  such ;  have  no 
fellowship  with  them  ;  '  receive  them  not  into  your  houses, 
neither  bid  them  God-speed.'  Those  who  have  honest  and 
right  views  of  the  Word  of  God,  are  not  afraid  to  publish 
them  to  the  world,  to  contend  earnestly  for  them,  and  to 
unite  in  a  covenant  to  support  them." 

In  1825,  North  District  Association,  looking  upon  these 
divisions  in  sorrow,  addressed  the  following  words  to  the 
churches — words  which  were  sent  forth,  with  the  name  of 
John  Smith,  as  Moderator,  subscribed: 

"  Schisms  and  divisions,"  said  they,  "  have  done  much  to 
impede  our  progress  in  Kentucky.  Short  as  the  period  is, 
since  the  first  churches  were  constituted  in  our  State,  it 
has  been  marked  by  several  divisions,  each  productive  of 
widely-extended  distress.  We  now  have  six  kinds  of  Bap- 
tists, all  of  which — the  Universalists  and  the  Friends  of 
Humanity  excepted — are  numerous ;  they  are  supplied  with 
preachers,  and  they  bid  fair  to  extend  and  increase  in 
numbers. 

"  What  is  to  be  the  end  of  these  things  ?  They  are  a 
source  of  sorrow  and  anguish  to  some,  at  least,  among  us. 
Must  they  be  perpetual  ?  Are  these  wounds  incurable  ? 
Who  can  tell  but  that  we — the  United  Baptists — are  to  be 
the  happy  instruments  to  heal  these  splits  and  schisms  ? 
Let  us  make  the  first  advances,  and  He  who  said, '  Blessed 
are  the  peace-makers,'  will  crown  our  efforts  with  .success." 

As  an  illustration  of  the  spirit  of  schism,  which  at  that 
time  was  so  rife  in  the  land,  we  may  cite  the  case  of  a 
church  which  stood  connected  with  a  certain  Association 
of  United  Baptists.  It  had  been  constituted,  in  early 
times,  on  the  Bible  as  the  only  creed  of  Christians.  After 
many  years  of  prosperity,  it  received  into  its  membership  a 
preacher  who  had  some  zeal  for  orthodoxy ;  and,  in  defer- 
ence to  him,  the  church  added  to  its  inspired  Constitution 


2O6  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

a  few  articles  explanatory  of  the  received  doctrine  of  grace. 
The  preacher,  on  account  of  the  infirmities  of  age,  did  not 
long  discharge  the  duties  of  his  office.  Another  was  in- 
vited to  take  membership,  with  a  view  to  the  better  edifi- 
cation of  the  brethren.  But  he  insisted,  as  a  condition  of 
becoming  their  pastor,  that  they  should  make  still  further 
additions  to  their  creed ;  and  that,  as  a  declaration  of  their 
orthodoxy,  they  should  take  the  name  of  Particular  Bap- 
tists. This  they  agreed  to  do ;  and  he  was  duly  installed 
as  their  pastor.  But  this  proceeding  gave  offense  to  the 
milder  brethren,  and  several  of  them  went  off  and  joined 
other  congregations. 

Consistency  now  required  the  unstable  church  to  with- 
draw from  the  Association,  and  to  join  the  community  of 
Particular  Baptists.  Bufr,  when  the  moment  for  decision 
came,  her  members  had  not  the  heart  to  break  off  from  a 
sisterhood  of  churches  with  which  they  had  been  so  long 
associated.  They,  therefore,  struck  from  their  creed  the 
dogma  of  particularism,  renounced  their  new  name,  and 
reassumed  that  of  United  Baptists — determined,  at  all 
hazards,  to  live  and  to  die  in  the  fellowship  of  the  old  As- 
sociation. But  now  the  more  orthodox  pastor,  and  all  that 
believed  with  him,  took  offense.  Calling  for  letters,  they 
set  themselves  afloat;  leaving  the  remnant  of  the  once 
prosperous  church  to  take  care  of  themselves. 

Another  illustration  of  the  same  spirit  may  be  seen  in 
the  attempt  of  John  Smith,  in  1825,  to  induce  the  church 
at  Bald  Eagle,  in  Bath  County,  to  throw  away  her  creed, 
and  to  substitute  the  inspired  Book  as  her  rule  of  practice 
and  her  standard  of  faith.  That  church  had  been  much 
disturbed  by  the  efforts  of  certain  extreme  Calvinists,  to 
entice  her  from  the  general  Union,  and  to  associate  her 
with  the  Licking  community.  The  effort  was  resisted  by 
Jonathan  Smith  and  other  moderate  Baptists;  and  much 


BASIS  OF  UNION.  2O? 

excitement  was  produced.  A  meeting  was  called  to  recon- 
cile the  two  parties,  and  John  Smith  was  invited  by  his 
brother  to  be  present.  He  went,  intending,  however,  to 
take  no  part  in  a  strife  in  which  both  sides  were  evidently 
wrong. 

Elder  Thomas  came  to  the  conference  as  the  represen- 
tative of  the  Particular  Baptists,  bringing  his  creed  with 
him,  which,  of  course,  was  strongly  Calvinistic ;  and 
Jonathan  Smith  appeared  with  his  milder  articles  of  faith. 
Discussion  failed  to  bring  the  parties  together,  and  every 
attempt  at  compromise  seemed  but  to  widen  the  breach 
between  them. 

At  length  John  Smith  arose,  and,  approaching  the  table, 
which  was  in  full  view  of  the  audience,  he  placed  the  two 
creeds  before  him,  one  on  each  end  of  the  table,  and  then 
put  the  Bible  between  them. 

"  Since,  brethren,"  said  he,  "neither  will  accept  the  creed 
of  the  other,  let  both  come  together  on  this  Bible,  as  the 
only  Word  of  God,  and  the  only  bond  of  union." 

"  It  will  never  do ! "  said  Elder  Thomas,  hastily,  and  with 
much  excitement.  "  It  will  not  do  at  all !  Such  a  course 
would  let  in  Arians,  Arminians,  and  every  other  kind  of 
errorists  !  It  will  never  dp ! " 

"  I  can  not  agree  with  my  brother,"  replied  Smith.  "  In 
my  judgment,  the  Word  of  God  excludes  all  sectarians. 
But,  if  the  Bible,  as  he  says,  would  admit  them,  how  dares 
he  form  a  creed  to  reject  them." 

But  his  proposition  met  with  no  favor,  and  the  two  par- 
ties remained  divided. 

One  of  the  measures  of  reform,  therefore,  which  Smith 
advocated  most  earnestly,  in  1828,  was  the  union  of  all 
Christians  on  the  basis  of  faith  in  Jesus  as  the  Messiah, 
and  obedience  to  him  as  the  only  Head  of  the  Church.  The 
belief  of  one  great  fact  on  the  testimony  of  the  inspired 


2O8  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

writers,  and  submission  to  one  outward  ordinance  expres- 
sive of  that  belief,  he  contended  was  all  that  heaven  re- 
quired of  any  man  in  order  to  his  admission  into  the 
Church.*  While  to  sinners  he  preached  that  great  fact, 
and  enjoined  upon  them  obedience  to  that  one  institution, 
to  the  several  discordant  sects  of  Baptists  he  declared  that 
their  one  faith  and  one  baptism  already  made  them  breth- 
ren, and,  as  subjects  of  one  Lord  and  children  of  one 
Father,  they  should  unite  as  one  body,  without  regard  to 
differences  of  opinion. 

Believing  that  authoritative  creeds  were  divisive  in  their 
tendency,  and,  therefore,  contrary  to  the  will  of  God,  he 
boldly,  but  prudently,  assailed  the  confessions  and  cove- 
nants of  the  denominations,  and  insisted,  as  the  first  step 
toward  a  Scriptural  union,  that  these  walls  of  separation 
should  be  torn  down.  These  once  removed,  he  believed 
that  the  people  of  Christ  would  come  together  on  the  com- 
mon ground  of  faith  in  him,  and  obedience  to  his  command- 
ments. It  was  not  the  opinions,  which  had  found  expres- 
sion in  the  creeds,  so  much  as  the  creeds  themselves  as 
bonds  of  union,  that  he  opposed ;  for,  in  his  view,  any  hu- 
man creed,  whatever  might  be  its  doctrines,  was  schismat- 
ical,  if  its  adoption  was  made. a  test  of  character  or  a 
condition  of  fellowship. 

But  the  proposed  ground  of  union  was  soon  found  to  be 
practically  incompatible,  not  only  with  ecclesiastical  creeds 
and  covenants,  as  such,  but  with  some  of  the  opinions,  also, 
which  generally  prevailed  among  the  churches.  A  penitent 
believer,  for  example,  according  to  the  ancient  order,  was 
not  to  be  so  much  as  asked  whether  he  was  a  Calvinist  or 
an  Arminian,  a  Trinitarian  or  a  Unitarian;  and  yet  his 
baptism  on  the  simple  profession  of  his  faith  in  Jesus,  with- 


*  Christian  Baptist,  vol.  i. 


THE  ANCIENT  GOSPEL.  2CX) 

out  examination  of  his  experience,  was  at  variance  with  the 
popular  theories  of  conversion. 

Whether,  therefore,  he  preached  the  primitive  Gospel 
to  sinners,  or  presented  it  as  the  ground  of  union  among 
Christians,  he  found  that  he  must  make  war  upon  both 
creeds  and  opinions.  Especially  when  he  began  to  call 
upon  the  churches  to  abandon  every  ordinance  of  human 
origin,  and  to  walk  according  to  the  example  of  the  primi- 
tive churches,  he  found  that  he  set  himself  in  opposition  to 
every  sect  in  the  land,  presenting  in  the  aggregate  of  his 
teachings,  what  his  opponents  called  a  new  religion,  alto- 
gether different  from  the  prevailing  forms  of  denomination- 
alism.  Thus  he  began,  by  inveighing  against  creeds  and 
party  names  ;  but  his  plea  soon  grew  to  be  radical  and  rev- 
olutionary in  its  demands,  until,  at  last,  in  harmony  with 
the  doctrine  of  Mr.  Campbell,  he  assumed  that  the  churches 
in  general  had  apostatized  from  the  original  faith  and  order ; 
and  that,  to  reform  them,  not  only  must  creeds  and  sects 
of  every  name  be  destroyed,  but  the  Apostolic  Gospel  and 
Order  of  things  must  be  restored. 

As  a  proclamation,  the  Ancient  Gospel,  as  it  was  termed, 
was  simply  the  joyful  tidings  that  the  remission  of  sins,  . 
and  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  were  assured  to  every  peni- 
tent believer  on  submission  to  the  ordinance  of  Christian 
baptism. 

As  a  theory,  or  systematic  arrangement  of  ideas,  in  which 
form  it  was  sometimes  presented  in  the  teachings  of  that 
day,*  it  consisted  of  six  points,  to-wit :  Faith,  Repentance, 
Baptism,  Remission  of  Sins,  the  Gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
the  Resurrection.  These  items  were  sometimes  grouped 
into  triads.  The  first,  being  conditions  or  duties  required 
of  man;  the  second,  being  promises  or  gifts  bestowed  by 


*  "  Evangelist,"  vol.  i,  p.  14,  by  Walter  Scott. 
IS 


210  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

God.     Should  the  sinner  believe,  repent,  and  be  baptized, 
God  promises  to  remit  his  sins,  to  give  him  the  Holy 
f     Spirit,  and,  if  faithful  unto  death,  to  raise  him  again  to 
eternal  life.     Respecting  the  sinner  and  his  sin,  six  things 
further  were  usually  considered,  to-wit :  the  love,  the  prac- 
tice, the  state,  the  guilt,  the  power,  and  the  punishment  of 
>     sin.     Faith  was  represented  as  destroying  the  love  of  sin  ; 
repentance,  the  practice  of  sin ;  and  baptism,  the  state  of 
.     sin ;  while  pardon  removed  its  guilt ;  the  Holy  Spirit,  its 
v    power;  and  the  resurrection,  its  punishment. 
—     While  the  Ancient  Gospel  was  thus  supposed  to  embrace 
every  thing  in  the  doctrine  of  Christ  necessary  to  make  dis- 
ciples, the  Ancient  Order  included  every  thing  necessary 
to  preserve  and  perfect  them  as  disciples.      It  had  spe- 
cial reference  to  the  organization  and  government  of  the 
Church  ;  to  its  worship,  its  ordinances,  its  discipline,  and 
its  customs  ;  in  all  of  which  respects,  it  professed  a  strict 
adherence  to  the  precepts  of  the  Apostles  and  the  exam- 
ple of  the  primitive  churches. 

Those  who,  in  1828,  came  into  the  churches  under  the 
preaching  of  John  Smith,  cordially  accepted  his  doctrine 
von  these  points.  They  sat  around  him,  whether  in  house 
or  grove,  with  Book  in  hand,  like  earnest  children  in  the 
schools,  jealous  of  their  traditions  and  customs,  yet  willing 
to  be  taught  the  truth.  They  advanced  more  rapidly,  how- 
ever, in  knowledge,  than  in  practice ;  for  opinions  are  more 
easily  changed  than  customs.  Some,  for  instance,  who  had 
renounced  the  doctrine  that  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  an  abstract 
influence,  changes  the  heart  of  the  sinner,  still  called  for  the 
recital  of  the  usual  experience  as  a  pre-requisite  to  baptism. 
The  work  of  theoretical  instruction,  then,  was  compara- 
tively easy ;  but  it  required  much  address  to  persuade  his 
converts  to  reform  in  conduct  as  they  advanced  in  knowl- 
edge. 


A   HOST  WITHIN  HIMSELF.  211 

Friends  rapidly  multiplied  around  him.  The  churches 
were  almost  daily  strengthened  by  accessions  from  the 
ranks  of  the  young :  and  fathers  and  mothers,  too,  soon 
began  to  lose  their  interest  in  the  old  dogmas,  and  to  turn 
with  delight  to  the  contemplation  of  the  Gospel  as  the 
power  of  God  to  save  every  man  that  believes  it. 

James  Mason,  one  of  the  elders  of  the  church  at  Grassy 
Lick,  in  a  letter,  dated  April  19,  1828,  remarks: 

John  Smith  is  certainly  a  host  within  himself.  The  secta- 
rian leaders  here  have  found  it  out,  and  are  barking  at  him ;  but 
the  people  are  following  him  in  crowds,  and  he  is  teaching  them 
the  Ancient  Gospel  with  astonishing  success.  You  would  be 
amazed  to  see  with  what  adroitness  he  handles  the  weapons  bur- 
nished and  refitted  for  him  in  the  Christian  Baptist.  The  old, 
profane  swearer  and  the  long-professed  deist, — many  that,  to  all 
appearances,  were  given  over  to  hardness  of  heart  and  reprobacy 
of  mind,  have  bowed  to  King  Jesus.  At  our  last  meeting,  thir- 
ty-six were  immersed  and  added  to  our  church.  On  last  Lord's 
Day,  at  Mount  Sterling,  thirty-seven  were  immersed,  among 
whom  were  some  of  our  most  respectable  citizens — men  of  the 
highest  position  in  civil  society. 

But  I  can  not  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  telling  you  how 
my  soul  was  filled  with  joy  at  seeing  a  beloved  brother,  accord- 
ing to  the  flesh,  make  the  confession.  Unconscious  of  it  him- 
self till  he  heard  Brother  Smith  proclaiming  the  Ancient  Gos- 
pel, he  had  been  a  believer  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  more 
than  twenty-six  years;  but,  because  he  could  not  tell  what  we 
have  always  been  in  the  habit  of  calling  a  Christian  experience, 
he  has  been  kept  out  of  the  fold  of  God  ever  since,  till  a  few 
days  ago,  when  he  found  that  to  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  to  obey  his  commands,  was  all  that  the  Gospel  re- 
quired ;  he  then  went  down  into  the  water  and  told  Brother 
Smith  he  wished  him  to  say  immerse,  instead  of  baptize.  Like 
the  eunuch  of  old,  he  is  now  going  on  his  way  rejoicing,  as 
happy  a  man  as  can  be  found. 


212  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Revivals,  such  as  those  alluded  to  in  this  letter,  were 
now  of  frequent  occurrence.  In  fact,  for  several  months 
in  succession,  he  immersed  about  thirty  persons  every 
week.  These  results  did  not  fail  to  alarm  the  orthodox 
even  among  the  distant  churches  of  the  Elkhorn,  the 
Licking,  the  Bracken,  and  the  Boone's  Creek  Associa- 
tions. In  order  to  defend  the  doctrine  of  grace,  as  set 
forth  in  the  creed,  some  of  the  ablest  ministers  of  those 
Associations  visited  Montgomery,  and  upheld  their  dis- 
tinctive tenets  by  every  argument  that  they  could  produce. 

One  of  the  most  learned  of  these  divines,  gathering  a 
large  concourse  of  people  together  at  Grassy  Lick,  ad- 
dressed them  at  much  length,  and,  by  means  of  a  pleasing 
and  powerful  argument,  left  them  so  deeply  impressed 
with  the  reasonableness  of  the  Calvinian  theory  that  the 
friends  of  the  Ancient  Gospel  were  no  little  disconcerted. 

He  argued  that  obedience  to  any  physical  law  presup- 
poses physical  life.  The  plant,  for  instance,  that  unfolds 
its  leaves  in  the  light  of  spring,  obeys  a  vegetable  law  by 
the  power  of  a  vegetable  life,  previously  imparted.  A 
dead  tree  puts  forth  no  leaf,  or  blossom — it  can  obey  no 
law.  In  the  animal  world,  also,  there  are  certain  physio- 
logical laws  which  each  living  creature  obeys — not  by  the 
energy  of  a  vegetable,  but  of  an  animal  life.  Obedience, 
therefore,  does  not  confer  life :  the  animal  must  first  be 
made  alive,  before  it  can  begin  to  obey.  It  is  so  in  the 
spiritual  world  ;  there  must  be  spiritual  life,  before  there 
can  be  obedience  to  spiritual  law.  For  argument's  sake, 
indeed,  it  might  be  admitted  that  life  is  afterward  enjoyed 
only  so  long  as  the  quickened  man  continues  to  obey  ;  but 
the  first  act  of  obedience,  whether  it  be  to  repent  or  to  be- 
lieve, is  impossible  until  life  is  given  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

"  How  absurd,  then,"  he  concluded,  "  is  the  doctrine  of 
some,  that  the  gift  of  life  is  conditioned  on  an  act  of  obe- 


CALVINISM  REDUCED.  213 

dience!  Rather  is  obedience  conditioned,  in  the  very 
nature  of  things,  on  the  previous  gift  of  life.  Without 
life  imparted  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  then,  it  would  be  impos- 
sible, not  only  to  obey,  but  even  to  understand  the  law. 

"  Yea,  though  I  were  to  read  and  ponder  the  Word  for 
a  hundred  years,"  said  he,  "I  would  not,  at  the  end  of 
that  time,  unless  quickened  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  have  any 
more  knowledge  of  its  meaning,  or  ability  to  obey  it,  than 
my  horse  hitched  to  yonder  tree." 

At  the  next  regular  meeting  at  Grassy  Lick,  Smith 
learned  the  points  of  this  argument  from  his  brethren, 
and  gave  them  a  brief,  but  characteristic  reply : 

"  If  there  is  any  reason  in  the  argument  of  my  distin- 
guished brother,"  said  he,  "  then  it  follows,  inevitably,  that 
the  devil  will  never  get  any  of  our  race,  except  the  elect. 
For  if  no  man  can  obey  a  natural  law  without  natural  life,- 
neither  can  he  disobey  without  natural  life.  For  the  same 
reason,  he  can  never  disobey  a  spiritual  law  without  spir- 
itual life  ;  for,  universally,  obedience  or  disobedience  to 
any  law  presupposes  the  life  to  which  that  law  appertains. 
Now,  as  sin  is  the  transgression  of  spiritual  law,  no  one 
can  commit  sin  till  God  gives  him  enough  spiritual  life 
to  disobey.  And  as  death  is  the  wages  of  sin,  it  follows 
that  none  can  ever  die  and  fall  to  the  devil's  share  save 
those  only  who  have  been  first  made  alive  by  the  Holy 
Ghost." 

Another  minister,  who  was  a  leading  member  of  the 
Licking  Association,  visited  the  church  at  Mount  Sterling, 
already  leavened  with  the  new  heresy,  and  sought  to  re- 
store there  the  doctrine  of  the  creed  touching  the  nature 
and  extent  of  the  atonement.  He  faithfully  set  forth  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  actual  surety  of  his  people,  and  taught,  with 
emphasis,  that  he  had  literally  paid  off  the  debt,  which,  as 
sinners,  they  owed  to  God. 


214  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Such  teaching  was  at  variance  with  the  simplicity  of  the 
Gospel  as  preached  by  Smith,  and,  in  his  judgment,  it 
tended  to  lead  the  people  into  unprofitable  controversy. 
He  reminded  his  brethren,  therefore,  that  such  specula- 
tions were  idle ;  that  they  formed  no  part  of  the  Gospel, 
and  served  only  to  dismember  the  body  of  Christ.  But 
while  he  warned  them  against  confounding  any  religious 
system  with  religion  itself,  the  spirit  of  inquiry  and  dis- 
cussion, then  so  prevalent  in  the  land,  required  that  they 
should  be  armed  with  brief,  cogent  arguments  against  all 
the  more  common  forms  of  speculative  error. 

"  If  the  doctrine  be  true,"  said  he,  "  that  Christ,  as  a 
surety,  has  actually  paid  off  the  sinner's  debt,  then  it  fol- 
lows that  God  can  never  forgive  any  but  the  non-elect.  For, 
if  Jesus,  as  a  surety  for  the  elect,  has  really  paid  their  debt, 
then  God  can  no  longer  have  any  claims  upon  them.  Can 
a  creditor  forgive  a  debtor  after  his  debt  has  been  canceled 
by  his  surety  ?  If  Jesus,  in  a  like  sense,  has  paid  off  the 
debt  of  my  brother,  it  follows  that  God  has  now  nothing 
against  him,  and,  of  course,  can  never  forgive  him  !  " 

It  is  said  that  the  brother,  thus  answered,  honestly  ac- 
cepted the  conclusion  to  which  his  doctrine  was  reduced, 
and  that  he  afterward  preached  it,  congratulating  the  elect 
in  that  they  needed  no  forgiveness,  and  giving  over  the 
non-elect  to  everlasting  despair. 

It  was  sometimes  the  case  that,  while  he  was  preaching 
with  much  success,  some  jealous  brother  would  call  away 
the  attention  of  the  people  from  him  by  gathering  the  or- 
thodox together  in  the  neigborhood  and  stirring  them  up 
to  a  counter  revival.  His  mode  of  replying  to  such  oppo- 
sition was  peculiar.  He  never  suffered  it  to  irritate  him  ; 
but  always  met  the  interference  with  perfect  good  humor. 
Armed  at  every  point  against  the  logic  or  the  malice  of 
his  enemies,  and  penetrating  their  designs  at  a  glance,  he 


SHAKES  THE  HAND   OF  AN  ENEMY.  21$ 

moved  about  among  them  with  an  artless,  good-natured 
sort  of  familiarity,  that  made  them  always  dread  his  ap- 
proach. 

One  day,  during  a  revival,  after  he  had  baptized  about 
forty  persons  in  the  waters  of  Grassy  Lick,  he  announced 
to  the  people  that  one  of  the  opposing  brethren  was  about 
to  begin  a  meeting  not  far  off,  and  would  preach  that  very 
night ;  and  that  he  wished  them  all  to  go  and  hear  what  he 
had  to  say.  He  went  himself,  and  took  his  seat  in  the 
crowd,  and  looked  about  him  with  a  face  that  beamed  with 
kindness  on  them  all.  After  the  preacher  had  closed  his 
argument,  he  called  for  remarks  from  any  brother  that  might 
feel  disposed  to  address  the  congregation. 

Smith  arose,  and,  with  great  fervor,  began  to  exhort  every 
sinner  present  to  believe  and  obey  the  Gospel.  He  called 
for  a  song,  and  the  congregation  responded  with  enthusi- 
asm ;  for  many  of  his  own  converts  were  there,  and  their 
voices  swelled  the  chorus.  As  they  sang,  he  went  through 
the  congregation,  cordially  shaking  the  hands  of  the  peo- 
ple, till  the  whole  assembly,  in  the  warmth  of  the  moment, 
seemed  to  glow  with  brotherly  love. 

The  preacher  alone  looked  with  displeasure  on  the  un- 
expected scene.  He  stood  apart ;  and  when  the  song  grew 
loud  and  tremulous,  he  folded  his  arms  stiffly  on  his  breast, 
and  stifled  his  sympathy.  The  obtrusive  exhorter  at  last 
approached  him,  too,  and  held  out  his  hand  to  him,  warm 
with  the  grasp  of  his  brethren.  But  the  offended  preacher 
only  locked  his  arms  the  more  closely  together,  and  fixed  a 
stoic  look  upon  the  wall  before  him.  With  a  quiet,  sudden 
force,  Smith  wrenched  his  arms  apart,  and,  grasping  his 
rigid  hand,  shook  it  in  the  presence  of  the  people  with  a 
strength  of  fellowship  that  could  not  be  resisted.  The  oc- 
casion became  his  own,  and  the  meeting,  with  all  its  re- 
sults, passed  into  his  own  hands. 


2l6  LIFE   OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

Smith  opposed  to  Schism — Faith  by  hearing  or  by  the  Spirit's  influence — Col.  John 
T.  Mason — The  Ancient  Gospel  restored — Increased  excitement — Disciples 
organized  into  Churches — Sharpsburg — Owingsville — Slate  Liberty — Camp- 
meeting  scenes  at  Stepstone — Smith's  spirit  stirred — He  declares  war  against 
the  Methodism  of  the  times — Controversy  with  Mr.  Jameson— Immerses  many 
Methodists — Repartees — "  What  shall  be  done  with  him  ?  " — His  wife  remon- 
strates— Threatened  with  personal  violence — Effects  of  these  things  upon  him. 

ONE  would  misconceive  the  object  of  John  Smith's 
preaching  to  suppose  that  he  wished  to  build  up  a  new 
sect,  by  means  of  a  schism  in  the  North  District  Asso- 
ciation. He  still  .preached  and  proselyted  as  a  member  of 
the.  Baptist  Church ;  and  those  who,  under  his  teaching, 
had  renounced  the  Calvinian  theory  of  conversion,  still 
lived  in  formal,  if  not  cordial,  fellowship  with  those  who 
stood  resolutely  by  the  old  church  covenants.  True,  the 
two  parties  were  incessantly  discussing  the  new  issues ; 
but  neither,  in  the  beginning,  dreamed  of  a  separation. 
One  was  laboring  to  reform ;  the  other,  to  reclaim.  Smith 
hoped  that  all  his  brethren  would  one  day  accept  the 
Ancient  Gospel,  and  adopt  the  Ancient  Order  of  Things ; 
many  of  them,  on  the  other  hand,  looked  on  his  abandon- 
ment of  the  old  paths  as  an  error  from  which  he  would 
soon  turn,  with  all  whom  he  had  led  astray. 

The  prevalent  belief  that  conversion  was  the  direct  and 
exclusive  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  was  the  most  formidable 


EXPERIENCES.  2 1 7 

obstacle  to  his  success  as  a  Reformer.  The  great  question, 
at  last,  between  him  and  his  Calvinistic  brethren  was, 
whether  faith  is  produced  by  testimony  or  imparted  by 
inspiration ;  whether,  as  antecedent  to  baptism,  it  should 
be  confessed  as  a  voluntary  act  of  the  mind,  or  experienced 
as  an  irresistible  influence  from  above.  That  the  Holy 
Ghost  supernaturally  prepares  the  heart  of  the  sinner  to 
receive  the  truth,  was  almost  universally  held  as  a  first 
principle  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  It  was,  also,  the  last 
dogma  of  the  old  system  that  the  Reformers  consented  to 
renounce ;  and,  even  then,  they  still  loved  to  hear  their 
younger  brethren  in  Christ  tell  what  wonderful  things  the 
Lord  had  done  for  their  souls.  Old  brethren,  from  habit, 
still  required  to  be  satisfied  that  the  young  had  experienced 
the  work  of  grace  in  their  hearts ;  and  even  the  young 
themselves,  though  believing  the  Gospel  on  the  testimony 
of  the  apostles,  felt  that  more  should  be  required  of  them 
as  a  prerequisite  to  baptism  than  the  mere  confession  of 
that  belief. 

He  was,  for  awhile,  much  embarrassed  by  this  state  of 
things  ;  and  he  anxiously  wished  for  the  day  to  arrive  wtien 
all  the  congregations,  like  that  at  Spencer,  would  admit  to 
baptism  a  penitent  believer  on  the  simple  confession  of  his 
heartfelt  faith  in  Jesus.  Until  that  time  should  come,  he 
boldly  preached  the  Gospel  in  the  words  of  Peter,  and 
raised  no  strife  with  his  brethren  about  the  examination 
of  candidates  for  baptism — satisfied  that  those  whom  he 
instructed  in  the  way  of  the  Lord,  would  relate  no  expe- 
rience at  variance  with  the  doctrine  that  faith  comes  by 
hearing  the  Word  of  God. 

At  length  an  incident  occurred  at  one  of  his  meetings, 
in  the  spring  of  1828,  that  relieved  him  of  all  further  em- 
barrassment in  this  matter.  He  was  preaching  in  the 
woods,  on  the  banks  of  Slate  Creek,  in  Montgomery 
19 


2l8  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

County,  to  a  great  multitude  of  people,  that  had  come 
together  f^om  every  quarter  to  hear  him.  At  the  close  of 
his  discourse,  he  invited  any  that  believed  with  the  heart 
that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  to  come  forward  and  confess  that 
faith  before  men.  Two  or  three  at  once  presented  them- 
selves, and,  as  usual,  gave  a  brief  history  of  the  change 
through  which  they  had  passed.  There  was  present  on 
that  occasion,  Colonel  John  T.  Mason,  who  had  come  out 
from  Virginia,  some  time  before  this,  and  purchased  an 
interest  in  the  iron  works  on  Red  River.  He  was  an  intel- 
ligent gentleman,  a  lawyer  by  profession,  the  father  of 
Governor  Mason  of  Michigan,  and  justly  esteemed  one 
of  the  first  men  in  Kentucky.  He  had  often  heard  John 
Smith  contrast  the  "Ancient  Gospel"  with  the  systems  of 
the  day,  and  he  well  understood  the  nature  of  the  reform 
that  was  now  urged. 

When  the  invitation  was  extended  a  second  time  to  be- 
lievers, Colonel  Mason  arose  in  the  congregation,  and,  with 
much  dignity  of  manner,  said : 

"  Mr.  Smith,  it  is  my  wish  to  be  a  Christian,  and  I  now 
present  myself  for  that  purpose.  I  do  not  wish,  sir,  to 
blunder  at  the  start.  I  could  tell  you  much  concerning  the 
workings  of  my  mind  in  reaching  my  present  conclusion, 
but  I  do  not  believe  that  such  a  statement  is  divinely  re- 
quired as  a  condition  of  baptism.  I  believe,  with  all  my 
heart,  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God ;  and  upon 
this  simple  declaration  I  wish  to  be  immersed." 

The  preacher,  grasping  him  warmly  by  the  hand,  replied  : 

"  I  thank  you  for  this,  Colonel  Mason.  I  have  long  been 
convinced  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  Book  that  requires 
a  sinner  to  tell  all  the  workings  of  his  guilty  conscience, 
before  he  can  lawfully  be  baptized." 

He  now  exhorted  the  people  to  wait  no  longer  for 
miraculous  visions  or  changes ;  but,  if  they  believed  jn 


CHURCHES  CONSTITUTED.  21$ 

Jesus  the  Messiah,  to  arise  and  be  baptized  for  the  remis- 
sion of  their  sins,  calling  on  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

A  dozen  persons  or  more  arose,  and,  following  the  ex- 
ample of  Colonel  Mason,  were  forthwith  immersed  in  the 
waters  of  Slate  Creek.  From  that  day  Smith  never  received 
an  experience  again. 

A  heresy  that  thus  seemed  to  deny  the  direct  influence 
of  the  Spirit  on  the  heart  of  the  sinner,  was,  to  many,  no 
better  than  infidelity  itself.  Under  the  name  of  Campbell- 
ism,  it  was  stigmatized  as  a  cold,  proud,  and  unspiritual 
system  of  religion  that  flattered  the  unregenerate  with  the 
promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  of  heaven,  on  the  condi- 
tion of  an  historical  faith,  a  worldly  repentance,  and  a  bap- 
tism in  water ! 

Great  was  the  excitement  in  many  congregations  when 
they  saw  that  Smith  persisted  in  immersing  men  and  wo- 
men without  the  consent  of  any  church,  and  without  even 
assuring  himself,  by  the  usual  examination,  that  they  had 
been  born  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  But  he  had  now  laid  aside 
all  reserve ;  and  he  not  only  defended  his  course  as  scrip- 
tural, but  henceforth  waged  unrelenting  war  against  the 
popular  doctrine  of  spiritual  regeneration.  Disciples  thus 
baptized  without  the  usual  evidence  of  conversion,  not  be- 
ing received  into  some  of  the  congregations,  he  encouraged 
them  to  meet  together  in  their  own  houses  for  devotional 
exercises,  and  the  study  of  the  Word.  At  Sharpsburg,  and 
at  Owingsville,  in  Bath  County,  he  organized  them  regu- 
larly into  churches,  constituting  them  on  the  Scriptures 
alone  as  the  only  creed  and  code  of  the  disciples  of 
Christ. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Slate,  where  he  had  liberated  him- 
self and  so  many  of  his  brethren  from  the  thraldom  of 
an  unauthorized  custom,  he  organized  a  church  of  one 
hundred  members,  and  called  it  Liberty.  The  church  at 


220  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Owingsville  numbered  fifty  members ;  that  at  Sharpsburg, 
thirty-six. 

In  opposing  the  doctrine  of  regeneration  by  the  direct 
influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  advocating  that  of  life 
through  the  belief  of  the  truth,  he  offended  not  only  the 
Calvinist,  but  the  Arminian  also ;  and  it  was  not  long  till 
he  found  himself  assailed  on  all  sides  by  Methodists  and 
Presbyterians  as  well  as  Baptists. 

Not  far  from  the  town  of  Mount  Sterling,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Stepstone,  in  a  dense  grove  of  oaks  and  maples,  the 
Methodists  of  Montgomery  usually  held  their  great  camp- 
meetings.  The  wildest  enthusiasm  prevailed  on  these  oc- 
casions. Religious  frenzy  seized  both  saint  and  sinner, 
and  the  multitudes,  persuaded  that  these  seasons  of  refresh- 
ing came  only  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  vehemently 
sang  and  shouted  together.  It  was  the  spring  of  1 828.  The 
Methodists  had  pitched  their  tents  and  spread  their  straw 
on  the  Stepstone  for  a  great  revival,  and,  with  prayer  and 
song,  they  began  to  invoke  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  of  fire.  Soon  some  strange  influence  seized  the  peo- 
ple: convicted  sinners  fell  upon  the  ground  and  cried  for 
mercy,  while  penitents  wept  in  crowds  about  the  altars. 
The  old  saw  visions,  and  the  young  dreamed  dreams. 
Strange  voices  fell  upon  their  ears ;  unseen  wings  rustled 
around  them ;  and  glorious  sights,  ever  and  anon,  flitted 
before  their  eyes. 

Amid  these  scenes  of  rapturous  disorder,  one  man  leaped 
from  the  straw  where  he  had  long  been  agonizing,  and, 
running  to  a  maple  near  by,  up  which  a  wild  grape-vine 
climbed,  gazed  into  its  branches  with  burning  eyes,  and 
shouted : 

"  I  have  at  last  found  him  whom  my  soul  has  long  been 
seeking !  I  see  him  in  the  tree-top !  Come,  friends,  and 


MR.  JAMESON.  221 

help  me  get  my  Savior  down ! "  and  he  pulled  at  the  hang- 
ing vines  till  he  fell  exhausted  to  the  ground. 

Another,  who  had  for  days  and  months  wrestled  with 
principalities  and  powers,  in  the  vain  hope  of  a  spiritual 
deliverance,  meeting,  late  one  evening,  the  arch  enemy  of 
his  soul,  as  he  supposed,  -in  a  bodily  form,  fell  upon  a 
harmless  wight  of  the  neighborhood  with  desperate  cour- 
age, and,  striking  him  to  the  earth  with  a  sudden  blow, 
pounded  the  imaginary  devil  to  his  heart's  content. 

Smith's  spirit  was  stirred  within  him  by  these  things — 
for  he  had  witnessed  some  of  the  scenes  on  Stepstone — 
and  he  determined  to  lift  up  his  voice  against  them.  As 
soon  as  the  camp-meeting  was  over,  he  announced  that  he 
would  meet  the  people  on  the  same  spot,  and  inquire 
whether  such  scenes  were  in  harmony  with  the  Word 
of  God ;  and  he  invited  Mr.  Jameson,  then  the  pillar  of 
Methodism  in  that  region,  to  be  present.  He  chose  a 
week  day,  as  he  said,  because  it  was  more  suitable  for  the 
discussion  of  such  a  subject  than  the  Lord's  day.  In  the 
presence  of  a  large  assembly  of  citizens,  who  wondered  at 
his  boldness,  he  affirmed  that  the  law  of  the  King  required 
every  thing  connected  with  his  worship  and  the  proclama- 
tion of  his  Gospel,  to  be  done  decently  and  in  order.  The 
recent  exercises  of  the  camp  were  neither  decent  nor  or- 
derly, and  for  that  reason,  they  could  not  be  the  work  of 
the  Good  Spirit.  If,  however,  people  chose  to  engage  in 
such  extravagances  as  mere  amusements  or  animal  exer- 
cises, he  had  nothing  to  say  against  them ;  if  any  had  a 
taste  for  such  exhibitions,  let  them  indulge  it. 

"  But,"  continued  he,  and  he  raised  his  voice  and 
stretched  out  his  arm  toward  heaven,  "  they  shall  not,  God 
being  my  helper,  do  such  things  any  longer  under  the  name 
of  religion ! " 

Jameson  replied  that  the  Scriptures,  in  many  places, 


222  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

called  on  the  people  of  God  to  shout ;  that  if  any  one, 
therefore,  wanted  authority  for  shouting  at  a  Methodist 
meeting,  he  could  find  it  on  many  a  page  of  Holy  Writ. 

"  But,  in  the  name  of  all  the  prophets  and  apostles," 
rejoined  Smith,  "where  do  we  read  in  the  blessed  Book 
that  a  sinner  ever  treed  his  Savior?" 

A  few  days  afterward,  it  was  announced  that  another 
camp-meeting  would  be  held  in  Bath  County,  and  that 
Mr.  Jameson  would  be  there,  to  show  that  such  meetings 
were  not  only  right,  but  necessary ;  it  was  further  stated, 
that  if  any  objected  to  them,  they  could  come  there  and 
make  their  objections  known,  or  forever  afterward  hold 
their  peace. 

On  the  former  occasion,  Smith  had  opposed  these  ex- 
cesses in  the  presence  of  his  friends :  now  he  was  chal- 
lenged to  come  into  the  midst  of  his  enemies,  whose  wrath 
he  had  already  stirred  up,  and  speak  whatever  he  had  to 
say.  None,  but  those  who  knew  him  well,  believed  that 
he  would  thus  venture  into  the  stronghold  of  his  enemy. 
The  day  for  the  sermon  of  Mr.  Jameson  came  on,  and 
Smith  was  sick — so  sick,  in  fact,  that  his  friends  used  all 
their  influence  to  keep  him  at  home.  But  he  mounted 
his  horse  as  he  was,  and  repaired  to  the  camp.  The 
preachers  and  people  for  many  miles  around  had  come  to- 
gether ;  and  when  he  went  in  among  them,  their  scorn  for 
the  man  who  had  blasphemously  ascribed  the  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  the  play  and  passion  of  animal  blood,  was 
openly  manifested.  When  Mr.  Jameson  closed  his  argu- 
ment, Smith,  tottering  with  weakness,  walked  to  the 
stand,  and,  looking  composedly  around  upon  a  thousand 
angry  faces,  again  protested,  in  the  name  of  reason  and 
Scripture,  against  the  excesses  that  had  profaned  the 
Methodist  altar. 

"  Do  you  think  that  you  can  stand  alone,  sir,  against 


DEBATE.  223 

the  whole  world  ? "  shouted  Jameson  to  him,  on  that  occa- 
sion, with  much  excitement. 

"  I  can,  at  least,  do  one  of  three  things,"  replied  Smith, 
"  I  can  maintain  my  ground,  be  whipped,  or  die ! " 

"  Can't  some  of  you,  my  brethren,  knock  off  his  horns 
for  me  ?"  said  a  venerable  elder  to  the  ministers  that  sat 
around.  "  See  how  terribly  he  pushes  and  gores  ! " 

Smith  now  notified  Jameson  that  he  would,  on  a  certain 
day,  in  the  court-house,  at  Mount  Sterling,  discuss  the 
question,  "  Is  Methodism  the  Christianity  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament?" and  he  requested  him  to  be  present.  Accord- 
ingly, after  much  preliminary  correspondence,  they  met  at 
Mount  Sterling  in  public  debate. 

He  thus  gained  what  he  had  long  desired — an  opportu- 
nity of  publicly  exposing  what  he  regarded  as  a  fanaticism 
of  the  day,  and  of  defending  the  Ancient  Gospel  from  the 
misrepresentations  of  its  enemies. 

Soon  after  this,  he  began  to  immerse  many  Methodists, 
so  that  he  provoked  that  denomination  to  even  greater 
jealousy,  if  possible,  than  before.  His  preaching  was  set- 
ting the  son  against  the  father,  and  the  daughter  against 
the  mother ;  for  he  sometimes  immersed  the  children  of 
parents  that  looked  on  him  as  an  enemy  to  religion,  and 
regarded  his  doctrine  with  unaffected  abhorrence. 

"  What  shall  be  done  with  him  ? "  asked  Mr.  Jameson 
one  day  of  a  Presbyterian  elder  and  physician.  "  He  is 
distracting  society,  sowing  dissensions  in  families,  and  over- 
turning churches ;  yet  the  law  will  do  nothing  with  him." 

"  You  need  not  give  yourself  the  least  uneasiness  about 
John  Smith,  sir,"  replied  the  doctor.  "  I  know  something 
of  the  human  constitution  ;  and  no  man  on  earth  can  con- 
tinue to  do  the  amount  of  work  that  he  is  doing  without 
breaking  himself  down.  He  will  not  live  six  months." 

Having  baptized  several  members  of  a  certain  family  in 


224  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

his  own  neighborhood,  he  shortly  afterward  met  the  father, 
who  had  always  been  his  personal  friend. 

"  Good  morning,  my  brother,"  said  Smith  to  him, 
kindly. 

But  the  old  man  fixed  a  scornful  look  upon  him  and  said : 
"Don't  call  me  brother,  sir!  I  would  rather  claim  kin 
with  the  devil  himself! " 

"Go,  then,"  said  Smith,  "and  honor  thy  father!" 

While  immersing  in  the  neighborhood  of  Spencer,  a 
young  lady  presented  herself  for  baptism,  much  to  the  as- 
tonishment of  the  congregation,  for  she  had  been  a  zealous 
Methodist,  and  was  the  flower  and  pride  of  a  Methodist 
family.  Great  was  the  indignation  of  her  friends  when 
they  heard  that  John  Smith  had  corrupted  her  faith  also, 
and  had  immersed  her  for  the  remission  of  her  sins. 

"When  you  led  that  dear  young  girl  into  the  water,  sir," 
said  an  old  Methodist  sister,  almost  bursting  with  indig- 
nation, "you  led  her  that  much  farther  toward  hell!" 

"Sister,"  said  Smith,  in  the  blandest  tone,  "when  you 
read  your  Bible  more,  and  your  Discipline  less,  you  will 
learn  that  people  do  not  go  to  that  place  by  water,  for  there 
is  barely  enough  on  the  road  to  sprinkle  a  baby!" 

A  few  days  after  this,  several  other  Methodists  were  im- 
mersed by  him.  In  fact,  converts  from  that  sect  were  re- 
ceived at  almost  every  meeting  that  he  held.  The  same 
old  lady,  seeing  so  many  of  her  brethren  and  sisters  de- 
serting her,  was  again  moved  with  wrath,  and  charged  him 
with  a  wolf's  fondness  for  Methodist  lambs. 

"I  do  love  them,  sister,"  said  he,  "but  I  can  not  bear 
them  till  they  are  well  washed." 

"  He  surely  has  a  devil,"  said  the  offended  woman ;  and 
she  turned  away  to  mourn  over  the  distress  that  had  come 
upon  her  Zion. 

His  teachings  were  every-where  grossly  misrepresented, 


EFFECT  OF  OPPOSITION.  22$ 

so  that  it  became  necessary  for  him  to  spend  much  of  his 
time  in  rescuing  his  doctrine  from  caricature.  The  clergy 
around  had  great  influence  with  the  people,  and  it  was  con- 
sequently hard  to  correct  their  misrepresentations  of  what 
he  believed  and  taught.  He  usually  laid  off  his  discourses, 
which  were  two  or  three  hours  long,  in  three  divisions,  ac- 
cording to  the  objects  that  he  had  in  view :  in  the  first,  he 
corrected  misrepresentations ;  in  the  second,  he  exposed 
popular  errors ;  and  in  the  third,  he  presented  the  simple 
Gospel  to  the  people. 

His  wife  often  remonstrated  with  him  on  the  frequency 
and  severity  of  his  animadversions  on  the  doctrines  of  the 
creeds. 

"  Nancy,"  said  he  to  her,  one  day,  holding  up  before  her 
a  glass  of  water,  "  can  I  fill  this  tumbler  with  wine,  till  I 
have  first  emptied  it  of  water?  Neither  can  I  get  the 
truth  into  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  people  till  I  have 
first  disabused  them  of  error." 

But  opposition  served  only  to  brace  him  up,  and  he  al- 
most courted  it;  persecution  rather  pleased  him,  for  it 
made  him  strong,  and  increased  the  number  of  his  friends. 
Sometimes  he  was  even  threatened  with  personal  violence ; 
and  on  one  occasion,  three  men  conspired  together,  and 
bound  themselves  under  a  curse,  to  chastise  him.  But 
such  things  excited  in  him  neither  anger  nor  fear.  He 
had  once  felt  the  yoke  that  now  oppressed  the  people,  and, 
though  they  might  love  their  bondage,  he  resolved,  if  pos- 
sible, to  deliver  them  from  it.  He  preserved  his  equanim- 
ity, and  even  cherished  kind  feelings  for  his  enemies.  He 
smiled  with  unaffected  good  humor  when  they  frowned, 
and  blessed  them  when  they  cursed.  "Kindness,"  he 
often  said,  "is  the  best  sort  of  revenge,  and  wins  more 
victories  than  wrath." 

His  labors,  however,  grew  daily  more  and  more  exhaust- 


226  LIFE  OF  ELDER   JOHN  SMITff. 

ing.  He  constantly  borrowed  time  from  sleep,  never  rest- 
ing during  the  day,  and  seldom  retiring  till  after  midnight. 
His  hair  rapidly  turned  gray ;  and  his  robust  form  at  last 
began  to  show  the  effects  of  his  incessant  conflicts  and 
toil. 


SCHEME  TO   WEAKEN  UIS  INFLUENCE. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

A  scheme  to  weaken  his  Influence — Dr.  James  Fishback  sent  for — His  Views- 
Mill  Street  Christians — Free  Communion — Dr.  Fishback  assails  the  Views 
of  Smith  in  his  Absence — Smith's  Return — Sets  out  in  pursuit  of  his 
Enemy — Question  of  Free  Communion  Debated — Smith  on  Slate  Creek, 
among  the  Methodists — Argumentum  ad  Hominem — Its  Effect. 

ABOUT  that»time,  a  scheme  was  laid  by  some  of  his 
Pedobaptist  opponents,  which  threatened  to  weaken,  if  not 
to  destroy,  his  influence  with  a  certain  class  of  his  breth- 
ren. With  the  Baptists  generally,  he  held  the  sentiment 
that  the  immersed  could  not,  without  injury  to  the  cause 
of  truth,  invite  the  unimmersed  to  commune  with  them  at 
the  Lord's  table.  Dr.  James  Fishback;  of  Lexington,  a 
man  of  some  learning  and  decided  talents,  was  invited  by 
certain  Methodists  to  come  to  Mount  Sterling  and  expose 
the  inconsistency  of  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  the  Re- 
formers. 

In  1824,  that  able  minister  had  zealously  defended  the 
Baptist  custom  of  restricted  communion  in  the  Circular 
Letter  of  the  Elkhorn  Association.  His  argument  was 
indorsed  at  the  time  as  a  complete  vindication  of  his  breth- 
ren from  the  imputation  of  sectarian  bigotry.  He  seems, 
however,  to  have  imbibed  afterward  the  sentiments  of 
Robert  Hall,  of  England ;  for  he  came,  in  time,  to  regard 
Christian  character,  and  not  baptism  by  immersion,  as  the 
scriptural  prerequisite  to  communion. 


228  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

In  1827,  he  was  the  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church 
in  Lexington,  Ky.,  or  rather  of  a  church  previously  known 
by  that  name,  but  which,  in  that  year,  began  to  call  itself 
the  Church  of  Christ  on  Mill  Street,  This  repudiation  of 
the  name  Baptist  gave  great  offense  to  the  Elkhorn  Asso- 
ciation. Influenced  by  such  men  as  Jeremiah  Vardeman 
and  Jacob  Creath,  they  unanimously  rejected  the  letter  of 
the  newly-styled  church,  and  accepted  one  from  the  minor- 
ity, who  zealously  clung  to  the  old  name,  and  refused  to  be 
called  simply  a  "  Church  of  Christ."  Moreover,  they  sol- 
emnly warned  Dr.  Fishback  of  the  awful  danger  of  causing 
divisions  in  society  by  introducing  a  system  of  things  that 
would  essentially  change  the  name  and  character  of  the 
Baptist  denomination  ;  and  they  adjured  him  and  his  breth- 
ren in  love  to  return  to  the  Church  from  which  they  had 
rent  themselves. 

"  Dr.  Fishback  has  torn  down  the  Baptist  flag,"  exclaimed 
Jacob  Creath,  during  the  discussion  of  the  resolution  to 
reject  the  letter  of  the  Church  of  Christ  on  Mill  Street. 

"I  know  that  I  am  a  Baptist"  said  a  Calvinist,  on 
the  same  occasion,  "  but  I  do  not  know  that  I  am  a 
Christian" 

"Where  now  are  these  Mill  Street  Christians •?"  said 
Jeremiah  Vardeman,  after  the  resolution  rejecting  them  had 
passed.  "Let  them  seek  an  asylum,"  said  he,  "wherever 
they  can  find  it ! " 

Dr.  Fishback,  having  thus  induced  his  brethren  on  Mill 
Street  to  relinquish  their  denominational  name,  easily  per- 
suaded them  also  to  accept  the  teachings  of  Robert  Hall, 
and  to  commune  with  their  Pedobaptist  neighbors  whenever 
invited  to  do  so.  He  and  his  brethren,  having  been  dis- 
owned by  the  Baptists,  maintained,  for  awhile,  the  peculiar 
position  of  an  independent  and  dissociated  church,  contend- 
ing, in  opposition  to  the  sentiment  of  many  of  that  day, 


COMMUNION  QUESTION.  22<) 

that  a  heartfelt  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  a  sincere  and 
honest  obedience  to  him,  is  the  only  true  ground  of  eccle- 
siastical union  and  Christian  fellowship. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  he  was  called,  by 
the  Methodists  of  Mount  Sterling,  to  come  and  speak  to 
the  people  on  the  subject  of  free  or  unrestricted  com- 
munion. When  he  reached  that  place,  he  learned  that 
John  Smith  was  absent,  preaching  and  baptizing  in  another 
part  of  the  District.  He  was  requested,  however,  to  post- 
pone his  address  for  a  day  or  two,  in  order  that  Smith 
might  be  present.  But  the  Methodists  would  not  consent 
to  any  delay,  and  he  proceeded  to  discuss  the  question  in 
Smith's  absence ;  and,  by  his  powerful  argument,  greatly 
excited  the  people,  and  unsettled  the  minds  even  of  some 
of  the  Reformers. 

He  argued,  from  Rom.  xiv,  that  it  was  wrong  to  make 
the  mode  of  one's  baptism  a  condition  of  communion  with 
him,  since  Christians  are  commanded  to  receive  one  an- 
other without  regard  to  differences  of  opinion. 

He  argued  that  the  strict  communionists  are  inconsist- 
ent in  rejecting  from  their  Table  believers  with  whom, 
nevertheless,  they  are  willing  to  commune  in  other  acts 
of  worship  ;  "  for  if  we  may  not  break  bread  with  the  unim- 
mersed,"  said  he,  "  neither  may  we  pray  or  sing  with  them." 

He  contended,  moreover,  that  an  exclusive  Table  engen- 
ders a  sectarian  spirit,  than  which  nothing  is  more  opposed 
to  the  spirit  of  Christ. 

Especially  was  it  inconsistent  in  Reformers,  such  as 
John  Smith,  to  refuse  to  sit  at  the  Table  of  the  Lord  with 
Pedobaptists,  and  yet  to  commune  with  the  United,  or  the 
Particular,  Baptists,  who,  as  Smith  declared,  had  apostatized 
from  the  religion  of  the  New  Testament. 

But  his  main  argument  was  that  sprinkling  or  pouring 
is  baptism  to  those  who  honestly  esteem  it  as  baptism ; 


23O  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

for  God,  he  believed,  would  accept  the  honest  intention  to 
obey,  and  pardon  the  unpresumptuous  mistake  in  the  manner 
of  obedience. 

When  Smith  reached  home,  he  was  surprised  to  learn 
that  Dr.  Fishback  had  already  delivered  his  address,  and 
that  the  religious  community  was  in  a  state  of  great  •ex- 
citement. He  was  distressed  to  learn,  also,  that  the  minds 
of  his  young  converts,  and  of  some  of  his  older  brethren, 
were  much  confused  by  his  argument.  He  felt  that  an 
advantage  had  been  gained  in  his  absence  by  his  enemies, 
and  that  he  must,  at  any  sacrifice,  recover  the  ground 
which  he  had  lost. 

Fortunately,  his  friend  Absalom  Rice  had  noted  down 
every  material  point  in  the  Doctor's  discourse,  and  from 
these  notes  he  understood  the  argument  of  his  opponent. 
He  also  learned  that  Dr.  Fishback  had,  perhaps,  already 
gone  into  the  hills  of  Red  River ;  for  he  had  appointments 
to  preach  there. 

Smith  rested  at  home  that  night ;  but,  early  next  morn- 
ing, his  horse  was  at  the  gate,  and  he  was  equipped  for  a 
journey. 

"  When  will  you  be  at  home  ? "  asked  his  wife,  as  usual ; 
for  on  leaving  home,  he  always  set  an  hour  for  his  return, 
and,  though  it  might  be  days,  or  even  weeks,  ahead,  he 
seldom  disappointed  her.  He  would  sometimes  ride  all 
night  long,  in  order  to  keep  his  word ;  at  other  times,  he 
would  rein  in  his  horse,  lest  he  should  anticipate  the  hour. 
"  When  shall  we  look  for  you  again  ? "  she  now  inquired. 

"Nancy,"  replied  he,  with  unusual  earnestness,  "never 
will  I  put  my  foot  within  this  door  again  to  the  day  of  my 
death  till  I  have  found  Dr.  Fishback;  for  find  him  I  will, 
if  he  is  on  this  side  of  the  ocean  !  " 

He  went  on  to  town  early  that  morning,  before  the  hour 
of  meeting ;  for  it  was  known  that  he  had  returned  home, 


COMMUNION  QUESTION.  231 

and  an  appointment  to  preach  that  day  had  been  made 
for  him  by  his  friends.  He  went  in  early,  that  he  might 
learn  more  definitely  the  extent  of  the  damage  which  had 
been  done  to  the  cause.  He  expected,  of  course,  that  the 
Doctor  was  on  Red  River ;  but,  to  his  surprise,  he  found 
him  in  town. 

"  Dr.  Fishback,"  said  he,  "  I  was  told  that  you  had  gone 
to  Red  River;  but  I  am  truly  glad  to  meet  you  here." 

"  I  did  intend  to  go,"  replied  he,  "  but  you  have  worked 
such  wonders  in  these  parts,  that,  hearing  you  would 
preach  in  town  to-day,  I  concluded  to  stay  and  learn  how 
it  is  that  you  effect  such  great  things." 

"  Brother  Fishback,"  said  he,  courteously,  "  will  you  not 
preach  to-day  yourself?" 

"No,"  he  replied,  "  I  will  not ;  I  stayed  to  hear  you." 

As  they  walked  on  together  to  the  meeting-house,  which 
stood  on  a  hill  in  the  western  part  of  the  town,  Smith,  in  a 
frank  but  kind  manner,  inquired: 

"  Brother  Fishback,  did  any  of  my  brethren  ask  you  to 
postpone  your  discourse  till  my  return  ? " 

"  Yes ; "  replied  the  doctor,  "  but  my  Methodist  friends 
judged  it  best  that  I  should  do  as  I  did." 

"You  have  treated  me  most  unkindly  in  this  matter, 
Brother  Fishback.  But  Absalom  Rice  has  furnished  me 
with  notes  of  your  discourse ;  and,  now,  I  say  to  you  in 
all  candor,  that  if  you  can  argue  no  better  than  you  seem, 
from  these  notes,  to  have  done,  I  never  will  believe  but 
that  I  can  handle  you  like  a  baby!  Where,  Doctor,  will 
you  spend  the  evening  ? " 

"  With  my  brother-in-law,  James  Mason,"  he  replied. 

"  Then  I  am  going  to  Brother  Mason's,  too,"  said  Smith, 
"  and  I  will  there  try  the  strength  of  your  argument." 

"Try  it  this  morning — try  it  here,"  said  the  Doctor, 
bravely,  as  they  entered  the  meeting-house  together. 


232  LIFE  OF  ELDER   JOHN  SMITH. 

"  No,  sir,"  said  Smith ;  "  I  have  too  much  generalship  for 
that.  I  will  meet  you  to-night." 

In  his  discourse  that  morning  he  made  no  allusion  what- 
ever to  the  visit  of  Dr.  Fishback,  or  to  the  subject  of  con- 
troversy. After  the  immersion  of  several  persons,  that 
afternoon,  he  stood  in  his  dripping  garments  on  the  banks 
of  the  Hinkston,  in  the  presence  of  a  throng  of  people,  and 
announced  simply  that  he  would  spend  the  evening,  and, 
if  necessary,  the  night,  too,  with  Dr.  Fishback,  at  the  house 
of  Colonel  Mason. 

When  he  got  there,  he  found  many  of  his  brethren 
already  assembled.  A  number  of  Methodists,  also,  had 
come  to  witness  his  defeat.  He  introduced  the  discussion 
by  remarking : 

*'  I  have  come  here,  brethren,  to  meet  Dr.  Fishback,  and 
to  test,  by  the  Word  of  God,  his  position  on  the  subject  of 
free  communion." 

Calling  for  a  Bible,  he  turned  to  Rom.  xiv,  and,  while 
the  company  stood  or  sat  around  him  with  the  open  Book 
in  their  hands,  he  argued  from  the  context: 

"  That,  with  reference  to  things  indifferent,  such  as  the 
eating  of  meats  or  of  herbs,  there  was  liberty  of  opinion 
and  of  action  ;  for,  concerning  such  things,  the  King  never 
specifically  legislates.  But  positive  ordinances  are  not  to 
be  included  among  things  indifferent,  seeing  they  are  ex- 
pressly commanded.  It  is  presumption,  therefore,  to  teach 
that  baptism,  which  is  an  ordinance  of  Christianity,  is  a 
thing  indifferent,  and  may,  therefore,  be  neglected  or  modi- 
fied at  pleasure." 

He  argued  that  the  true  ground  of  Christian  Union,  as 
advocated  by  the  Reforming  Brethren,  justified  communion 
with  all  immersed  believers — communion  with  them  in 
every,  act  of  worship,  and  in  every  deed  of  love ;  for  the 
ground  of  that  union  is  faith  in  Jesus  and  immersion  into 


COMMUNION  QUESTION.  233 

his  name.  But  such  fellowship  does  not  necessarily  ex- 
tend to  all  the  opinions,  sentiments,  and  practices  of  the 
immersed,  and  is  not  to  be  construed  as  indorsing  them 
either  as  faultless  Christians  or  as  a  perfect  church.  But 
communion  with  Pedobaptists,  he  contended,  must  com- 
promise the  bond  of  union  itself  by  acknowledging  as 
Christians  those  who,  though  they  profess  to  believe  in 
Christ  as  their  Savior,  refuse  to  obey  him  as  their  Lord. 

After  reading  several  paragraphs  from  the  Doctor's  de- 
fense of  close  communion,  as  indorsed  by  the  Elkhorn 
Association  in  1824,  and  thus  placing  the  Doctor  against 
himself,  he  brought  the  discussion  to  a  close  by  suddenly 
asking  his  opponent,  whether  pouring  was  an  ordinance  of 
the  New  Testament  ? 

"  It  is  not,"  replied  he. 

"  By  what  logic,  then,"  continued  Smith,  "  do  you  make 
it  Christian  baptism?" 

"  Neither  pouring  nor  sprinkling  is  baptism  to  me"  re- 
plied the  Doctor ;  "  but  those  who  honestly  believe  that  it 
is  baptism,  to  them  it  is  baptism.  Let  every  one  be  fully 
persuaded  in  his  own  mind." 

"  If  I  judge  a  thing  to  be  wrong,  Brother  Fishback," 
replied  Smith,  "  to  me  it  is  wrong ;  but,  if  I  judge  a  thing 
to  be  right,  I  am  not,  therefore,  always  guiltless  if  I  do  it. 
For  me  to  think  that  a  thing  is  right,  does  not  necessarily 
make  it  right  to  me.  I  do  not  charge  you  with  the  con- 
sequences of  your  doctrine,  but  your  logic  leads  to  this  : 
That  mot  even  faith  in  the  existence  of  God  is  with  you 
always  a  condition  of  fellowship.  One  may  deny  that 
Jesus  is  the  Christ ;  another,  a  future  state ;  and  another, 
the  being  and  attributes  ef  the  Godhead.  Yet,  if  each  is 
fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind  that  he  is  right,  then — 
get  out  of  it  if  you  can — you  must  admit  him  to  your 
communion." 
20 


234  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

The  discussion  closed  for  the  night ;  but  Smith  gave 
notice  that,  on  a  certain  day,  he  would  speak  in  Mount 
Sterling  in  exposition  of  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  Romans  ; 
and  that,  as  he  would  handle  the  arguments  and  the  name 
of  Dr.  Fishback  freely,  he  hoped  that  gentleman  would 
be  present. 

The  day  arrived,  and  he  redeemed  his  promise.  The 
large  meeting-house  could  not  contain  the  people,  and 
they  built  a  stand  for  him  in  a  grove  near  by.  Dr.  Fish- 
back  was  not  present ;  but  the  discourse  was  regarded  by 
all  the  Baptists  as  a  most  triumphant  defense  of  restricted 
communion.  His  own  brethren  were  confirmed,  and  the 
churches  around,  on  this  subject  at  least,  had  rest  for  a 
season. 

Soon  after  this,  he  went  out  on  Slate  Creek,  and  began 
to  preach  the  Ancient  Gospel  among  the  Methodists  and 
Baptists  of  that  region.  An  itinerant  of  the  Methodist 
Church  was  already  on  the  ground,  and  the  attention  of 
the  people  was  soon  divided  between  the  two  preachers. 
Smith  had  but  few  brethren  in  the  neighborhood,  and  the 
views  of  the  Pedobaptist  generally  prevailed.  The  two 
congregations  met  in  groves  not  far  apart,  and  each  emu- 
lated the  enthusiasm  of  the  other.  Soon  a  number  of 
anxious  penitents  found  religion  at  the  Methodist  altar ; 
and  soon  Smith  began  to  immerse  believers  on  the  pro- 
fession of  their  faith  in  Christ. 

One  day,  a  mother  brought  her  infant  into  the  Meth- 
odist congregation,  that  it  might-  receive  baptism  at  the 
hands  of  her  preacher.  Water  was  applied  according  to 
the  custom  of  his  Church,  no  regard  being  paid  to  the 
cries  and  struggles  of  the  child,  that  with  all  its  strength 
resisted  the  ordinance. 

On  the  next  day,  Smith,  in  the  presence  of  all  the 
people,  who  crowded  the  banks  of  the  beautiful  stream 


THE  DIPPER.  235 

hard  by,  led  forth  ten  persons,  one  by  one,  into  the  water, 
and  immersed  them  for  the  remission  of  sins.  Seeing  the 
Methodist  preacher  in  the  crowd,  he  walked  up  from  the 
stream,  and  pressed  through  to  the  place  where  he  stood. 
The  song  went  on ;  for  the  people  supposed  that  another 
candidate  was  about  to  be  buried  in  baptism.  Seizing  the 
preacher  by  the  arm,  he  pulled  him  gently  but  firmly  along 
toward  the  water.  Resistance  would  have  been  in  vain ; 
for  the  Dipper,  as  the  people  now  began  to  call  him,  was  a 
man  of  powerful  muscle. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do,  Mr.  Smith  ? "  said  the  man, 
uncertain  what  the  strange  procedure  meant. 

"  What  am  I  going  to  do ! "  said  Smith,  affecting  surprise 
at  the  question  ;  "  I  am  going  to  baptize  you,  sir!" 

"But  I  do  not  wish  to  be  baptized,"  said  the  man,  trying 
to  smile  at  what  he  deemed  to  be  rather  an  untimely  jest, 
if,  indeed,  it  was  a  jest  at  all. 

"Do  you  not  believe?"  said  Smith. 

"  Certainly  I  do,"  said  the  preacher. 

"Then,  come  along,  sir,"  said  the  Dipper,  pulling  him 
still  nearer  to  the  water ;  "  believers  must  be  baptized ! " 

"But,"  said  the  man,  now  uneasy  at  the  thought  that 
possibly  it  might  not  be  a  joke  at  all,  "  I  'm  not  willing  to 
go.  It  certainly  would  do  me  no  good  to  be  baptized 
against  my  will." 

Smith  now  raised  his  voice  so  that  the  multitude  could 
hear,  for  the  song  had  ceased,  and  every  ear  was  open  to 
catch  his  words.  "  Did  you  not,"  said  he,  "  but  yesterday, 
baptize  a  helpless  babe  against  its  will,  though  it  shrunk 
from  your  touch,  and  kicked  against  your  baptism?  Did 
you  get  its  consent  first,  sir?  Come  along  with  me,  for 
you  must  be  baptized!"  and  with  one  movement  of  his 
powerful  arm,  he  pulled  the  unwilling  subject  to  the  water's 
edge.  The  preacher  loudly  and  earnestly  protested,  and 


236  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

the  Dipper  released  his  hold.  Looking  him  steadily  in  the 
face,  he  said : 

"  You  think,  sir,  that  it  is  all  right  to  baptize  others  by 
violence,  when  you  have  the  physical  power  to  do  it ;  but 
when  you  yourself  are  made  the  unwilling  subject,  you  say 
it  is  wrong,  and  will  do  no  good!  You  may  go  for  the 
present ;  but,  brethren  and  friends,"  said  he,  lifting  up  his 
voice  to  the  people,  who  now  perceived  the  purpose  of  the 
jest,  "let  me  know  if  he  ever  again  baptizes  others  with- 
out their  full  consent ;  for  you  yourselves  have  heard  him 
declare  that  such  a  baptism  can  not  possibly  do  any  good ! " 

But  little  mirthfulness  was  excited  by  this  scene,  for  it 
deeply  impressed  the  people ;  in  fact,  a  thousand  arguments 
could  have  done  no  more. 


MBS.  SMITH'S  SACRIFICES. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

Mrs.  Smith's  Sacrifices — Her  Husband's  absence — Talks  with  him  at  the  gate— 
Fails  to  interest  him  in  Worldly  Business — Takes  her  Infant  into  the 
fields — Midnight  Reapers — Smith's  Compensation — The  Clergy — A  mul- 
titude of  Preachers — His  earliest  friends  in  the  Reformation — Vardeman's 
Position — Jacob  Creath,  sen. — Jacob  Creath,  jr. — William  Morton — George 
W.  Eliey. 

WE  have  said  that  Mrs.  Smith  entered  heartily  into  the 
resolution  of  her  husband,  to  give  up  the  farm  to  her,  and 
devote  himself  to  the  proclamation  of  the  Gospel.  Her 
zeal,  henceforth,  was  no  less  than  his  ;  her  sacrifices,  per- 
haps, were  as  many  and  as  great.  The  care  of  a  farm,  not 
yet  paid  for,  nor  set  in  order,  and  of  five  or  six  little  children, 
whom  she  must  feed  and  clothe  with  her  own  hands,  heavily 
taxed  her  energies.  During  the  entire  year,  her  husband 
could  give  no  attention  to  secular  or  domestic  affairs.  In 
truth,  he  was  so  absorbed  in  studying  and  teaching  the 
Word,  that  he  felt  no  interest  in  any  worldly  thing.  Even 
when  stopping  to  rest  for  a  night  at  home,  he  would  sleep 
and  read  by  turns,  awaking  and  lighting  his  candle  at  mid- 
night, to  examine  some  word  or  text  not  yet  understood, 
and  which,  perhaps,  had  confused  him  in  his  dreams. 

She  had  exacted  from  him  a  promise  to  look  in  upon 
his  home,  if  possible,  every  week.  But  so  great,  now,  was 
the  interest  of  the  people  in  religious  matters,  that  it  was 
impracticable  for  him  always  to  keep  his  promise.  He 


238  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

would  tarry  in  some  distant  place,  preaching  and  baptizing, 
till  the  week  was  nearly  gone,  and  then,  dismissing  the 
people  at  a  late  hour,  ride  hurriedly  home  through  dark- 
ness, sometimes  through  mud  and  cold  and  tempest,  in 
order  to  keep  that  promise  to  his  wife.  At  other  times, 
when  going  from  one  part  of  the  District  to  another,  he 
would  pass  along  by  his  own  house,  but,  too  much  hurried 
to  stop  and  rest,  would  linger  awhile  at  the  gate,  and 
gathering  strength  from  her  words  of  cheer,  press  on  to 
his  distant  appointment. 

Once  he  stopped  as  he  was  thus  passing,  and,  without 
dismounting,  called  her  to  the  gate : 

"  Nancy,"  said  he,  giving  into  her  hands  the  saddle-bags 
in  which  he  carried  his  clothing,  "  I  have  been  immersing 
all  the  week.  Will  you  take  these  clothes  and  bring  me 
some  clean  ones,  right  away  ?  for  I  must  hurry  on." 

"  Mr.  Smith,"  said  she,  pleasantly,  but  with  a  touch  of 
sadness  in  her  voice,  "  is  it  not  time  that  you  were  hav- 
ing your  washing  done  somewhere  else?  We  have  at- 
tended to  it  for  you  a  long  time." 

" No,  Nancy,"  said  he ;  "I  am  much  pleased  with  your 
way  of  doing  things,  and  I  don't  wish  to  make  any 
change." 

After  a  kind  good-bye  to  her,  and  a  few  playful  words  to 
the  little  ones,  whose  brown  hands  and  browner  feet  clung 
to  the  rails  of  the  fence  close  by,  he  passed  on  to  meet 
the  congregation  that  would  wait  for  him  that  day  in  some 
young  convert's  house,  or,  perhaps,  in  some  hospitable 
grove. 

Once,  after  many  days'  absence,  he  returned  home  to 
spend  there  a  few  hours  of  needful  quietude.  It  was  the 
seed-time  of  the  year.  His  wife,  with  the  help  of  an  in- 
dolent hired  man,  had  done  what  she  could  to  put  in  the 
necessary  crop,  and  she  now  wished  to  have  the  benefit  of 


NANCY  SMITH.  239 

her  husband's  advice.  But  when  she  proposed  to  him  to 
go  out  into  the  fields,  and  see  how  every  thing  went  on, 
he  tried  in  vain  to  dismiss  the  Gospel  from  his  mind,  and 
to  let  in  the  world  again.  He  walked  the  floor,  and  with 
a  strange  enthusiasm  in  his  manner  that  startled  her,  sang 
aloud: 

"  O  tell  me  no  more  of  this  world's  vain  store, 
The  time  for  such  trifles  with  me  now  is  o'er ! " 

He  could  not,  even  for  that  one  hour,  descend  from  the 
height  to  which  months  of  earnest  religious  toil  and  study 
had  raised  him. 

Sometimes  it  was  impossible  for  her  to  hire  a  man  at 
the  proper  time  to  work  on  the  farm.  Once,  when  it  was 
necessary  to  weed  the  corn,  and  help  could  not  be  had, 
without  incurring,  as  she  thought,  too  much  expense,  she 
took  her  infant  in  her  arms  and  went  out  to  the  fields  alone. 
Laying  the  child  down  under  the  elder  bushes  that  grew 
along  the  fence,  she  toiled  down  the  hot  corn-rows,  nerved 
to  her  drudgery  by  the  same  spirit  that  was  giving  her 
husband  voice  and  power  in  the  congregations. 

At  another  time,  her  grain  grew  ripe,  and  long  waited 
in  vain  for  the  reapers.  The  field  lay  there  near  the  house, 
and  every  day  she  saw  it  burning  in  the  summer's  sun. 
She  was  troubled,  and  at  length  began  to  despond ;  for  he 
was  far  away,  and  her  poor  babes  could  give  her  neither 
sympathy  nor  help.  One  night,  she  awoke  from  a  troubled 
sleep,  for  she  had  dreamed  of  her  unharvested  grain,  and 
of  little  children  in  distress.  She  arose  from  her  bed,  and, 
kneeling  down  in  prayer,  begged  for  strength  to  labor  and 
endure.  The  full  moon  shone  serene  without,  and  all  the 
fields  were  silvered  with  its  light.  As  she  walked  the  floor 
•in  her  wakefulness,  her  wistful  eye  glanced  out  through 
her  window,  and,  to  her  amazement,  she  saw  that  her  field 


240  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

was  already  reaped,  and  every  sheaf  stood  bound  and  gath- 
ered to  its  shock !  Her  bewildered  heart  rose  in  gratitude 
and  wonder  to  him  that  answers  prayer. *  God, 

"  Who  oft,  with  unexpected  joy,  the  fervent  prayer 
Of  faith  surprises  — '' 

had  put  it  into  the  hearts  of  some  young  converts  of  the 
neighborhood,  when  their  own  tasks  for  the  day  were  done, 
to  come  by  night,  and,  noiselessly  banding  themselves  to- 
gether, reap  her  grain  for  her,  in  the  strength  and  beauty 
of  their  love ! 

No  harvest  shouts  or  noisy  revels  had  broken  the  still- 
ness of  the  hour ;  but  there  were  happy  songs  in  those 
reapers'  hearts  which  were  heard  that  night  in  heaven ! 

For  all  his  labor  and  sacrifices,  John  Smith  received 
but  little  compensation.  From  the  day  of  his  bold  renun- 
ciation of  Calvinism,  at  Spencer,  in  1822,  to  the  year  of 
Grace  1828,  he  had  received  nothing  for  his  preaching  from 
any  source  whatever,  save  that,  in  1825,  a  kind-hearted 
merchant  of  Mount  Sterling  gave  him  the  amount  of  his 
account  for  merchandise  that  year,  which  was  about  $18.00. 
Though  not  a  professor  of  religion,  he  did  the  same  in  1826, 
and  also  in  1827.  In  1828,  that  merchant,  charmed  with 
the  simple  Christianity  which  Smith  taught  so  well,  and 
illustrated  so  consistently  in  his  life,  embraced  it  himself. 
Neglecting  his  counting-room,  he  went  through  the  borders 
of  the  land,  with  his  father  in  the  Gospel,  and,  like  Timothy 
of  old,  preached  the  Word  with  boldness,  being  urgent  in 
season  and  out  of  season. 

The  new  doctrine  recognized  no  such  order  of  men  in 
the  Church  as  preachers,  in  the  popular  sense  of  that  term. 
It  was  maintained  as  the  privilege  and  duty  of  every  mem- 
ber of  a  congregation  to  proclaim  the  Gospel  to  the  full 
extent  of  his  ability.  It  will  be  remembered  that,  in  his 


LA  T-PREA  CUING. 

essays  on  TJie  Clergy,  Mr.  Campbell  denied  the  popular 
doctrine  of  a  divine  call  to  the  ministry,  declaring  that, 
when  a  modern  preacher  claims  to  be  sent  of  God  to  preach, 
he  should  work  a  miracle  in  attestation  of  his  call.  If  he 
could  not  do  the  sign,  he  must  be  set  down  either  as  a 
knave  or  an  enthusiast. 

"  I  do  not  mean  to  say,"  said  he,  in  1824,  "  that  every  man 
and  woman  that  believes  the  Gospel  is  to  commence  travel- 
ing about,  as  the  popular  preachers  do,  or  to  leave  their  homes 
and  neighborhoods,  or  employments,  to  act  as  public  preach- 
ers. But  the  young  women  are  to  declare  to  their  coevals  and 
acquaintances — the  elder  women,  to  theirs — the  young  men 
and  elder  men,  to  theirs— the  glad  tidings,  and  to  show 
them  the  evidence  on  which  their  faith  rests.  This,  followed 
up  by  a  virtuous  and  godly  life,  is  the  most  powerful  means 
left  on  earth  to  illuminate  and  reform  the  world.  In  the 
meantime,  the  bishop  of  the  church,  in  their  weekly  meet- 
ings, teaches  the  religion  in  its  sublime  and  glorious  doc- 
trine and  bearings,  and  thus  the  members  are  still  educating 
and  building  up  in  the  most  holy  faith.  When  the  bishop 
rests  from  his  labors,  the  church  of  which  he  has  the  over- 
sight, by  his  labors,  and  by  the  opportunity  afforded  all  the 
members  of  exercising  their  faculties  of  communication 
and  inquiry  in  the  public  assembly,  finds  within  itself  others 
educated  and  qualified  to  be  appointed  to  do  the  same  good 
work.  The  Church  of  the  living  God  is  thus  independent 
of  theological  schools  and  colleges  for  its  existence,  en- 
largement, comfort,  and  perfection ;  for  it  is  itself  put  in 
possession  of  all  the  means  of  education  and  accomplish- 
ments, if  these  means  be  wisely  used." 

"My  very  soul  is  stirred  within  me,"  said  he,  "when  I 
think  of  what  a  world  of  mischief  the  popular  clergy  have 
done.  They  have  shut  up  every  body's  mouth  but  their 
own,  and  theirs  they  wont  open  unless  they  are  paid  for  it" 

21 


242  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"  No  man  believes  any  fact  but  he  can  tell  the  reason  why, 
and  produce  the  evidence  on  which  he  believes  it.  This 
is  all  the  New  Testament  means,  and  all  I  mean  by  preach- 
ing. A  bishop  must  be  ' apt  to  teach;1  but  nothing  is  said 
about  being  '  apt  to  preach'  for  teaching  and  preaching  are 
two  things  essentially  different.  To  have  said  that  a 
bishop  must  be  '  apt  to  preach1  in  that  age  would  have  been 
absurd,  when  women  as  well  as  men  could  preach.  Paul 
mentions  women  of  note  who  were  his  fellow-laborers  ;  and 
all  know  how  Priscilla  explained  to  the  eloquent  Apollos 
the  way  of  God  more  accurately.  Euodia  and  Syntiche 
are  mentioned  as  women  who  labored  with  the  apostle 
Paul  in  the  publication  of  the  Gospel.  Yet,  in  the  Church, 
they  were  not  allowed  to  teach,  nor  even  to  speak  in  the 
way  of  asking  questions." 

The  influence  of  this  teaching  was  early  felt  throughout 
the  North  District;  for  John  Smith  accepted  it,  and  he 
impressed  it,  in  his  own  peculiar  manner,  on  his  young 
brethren  and  sisters.  Philips  and  Aquilas  arose  in  every 
congregation,  and  Electas  and  Priscillas  labored  at  every 
fireside.  Young  converts  went  every-where  preaching  the 
Gospel,  while  the  more  aged  contended  for  the  restoration 
of  the  Ancient  Order  in  the  churches. 

Among  those  disciples  who,  by  their  devotion  to  the 
cause,  and  their  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  rendered  him 
the  earliest  and  most  efficient  aid,  were  Jacob  Coons,  Ab- 
salom Rice,  and  the  merchant,  Buckner  H.  Payne ;  while, 
among  the  women  most  distinguished  in  that  year  for  their 
cooperative  zeal  in  the  social  circle,  must  be  mentioned 
Dulcinea  Ryan  and  Eliza  Payne. 

As  yet,  there  were  but  few,  if  any,  among  all  his  brethren 
in  the  ministry  that  were  in  full  sympathy  with  him,  or  his 
work. 

Jeremiah  Vardeman,  preeminently  a  revivalist,  and  never 


-  JEREMIAH   VARDEMAN.  243 

a  strict  Calvinist,  did,  indeed,  in  the  years  1826  and  1827, 
preach  BAPTISM  FOR  THE  REMISSION  OF  SINS,  and  advocate, 
with  great  ability  and  success,  the  doctrine  that  the  New 
Testament  is  the  only  standard  of  a  Christian's  faith  and 
practice.  In  1827,  he  introduced  into  the  Elkhorn  Asso- 
ciation a  resolution  declaring  the  individual  churches  to 
be  the  highest  ecclesiastical  authority  known  in  the  Word 
of  God,  and  affirming  that  they  should  never  bring  their 
difficulties  into  an  Association  for  adjustment.  His  wish 
was,  as  he  said,  to  convert  the  Elkhorn  Association  into 
a  simple  worshiping  assembly.  But  soon  afterward,  he 
began,  it  seems,  to  reconsider  the  doctrine  of  baptismal  re- 
generation. At  the  Association,  in  1828,  he  preached  the 
introductory  discourse,  from  Eph.  ii :  8 — "  By  grace  are  ye 
saved  through  faith  ;  and  that  not  of  yourselves  :  it  is  the 
gift  of  God  ; "  on  which  occasion,  he  was  understood  as  op- 
posing the  leading  principles  of  the  Reformation.  Cer- 
tainly, in  1829,  while  he  still  condemned  the  stronger 
features  of  Calvinism,  and  was  by  no  means  an  advocate 
of  creeds,  he  professed  to  be  chagrined  and  mortified  at  the 
conduct  of  the  Reformers ;  and  he  turned  back  to  the  OLD 
DISPENSATION,  as  he  styled  the  faith  and  order  of  the 
Baptists.  It  was  in  reference  to  the  course  of  this  justly 
distinguished  man  that  Jacob  Creath  once  said  : 

"  He  set  out  in  the  Reformation  before  me ;  but,  after  I  had 
enlisted  under  its  banner,  and  started  out  to  battle  for  it,  I 
met  my  old  comrade  and  brother,  now  disgutted  and  discour- 
aged, coming  home  again,  with  his  knapsack  on  his  back." 

Jacob  Creath,  when  he  last  parted  from  John  Smith, 
which  was  in  1827,  was  a  preacher  of  Calvinism  ;  and 
when  they  met  again,  which  was  some  time  in  1828,  he 
was  still  in  full  fellowship  with  the  Baptists,  and  only  in 
partial  sympathy  with  the  Reformation,  zealously  oppos- 
ing, however,  all  authoritative  creeds,  councils,  and  Church 


244  LIFE   OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

covenants.  It  was  after  this  that  he  embraced  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Reformation ;  and  he  eloquently  defended 
them  to  the  day  of  his  death. 

Jacob  Creath,  jr.,  a  man  of  more  learning  than  his  uncle, 
was  distinguished  for  the  boldness  and  severity  of  his 
character.  He  wielded  the  most  ponderous  arguments, 
defended  his  positions  with  obstinate  courage,  and  assailed 
error  and  errorists  with  singular  energy,  though  sometimes 
with  a  harsh,  yet  ever  honest,  spirit.  But  he  was  not  in 
Kentucky  during  the  eventful  year  of  1828,  until  near  its 
close. 

William  Morton,  of  the  Boone's  Creek  Association,  was 
one  of  the  first  among  the  Baptist  preachers  of  Kentucky 
to  advocate  a  return  to  the  Apostolic  basis  of  Christian 
union.  He  was  one  of  the  most  amiable  and  honorable  of 
men,  a  Christian  gentleman,  and  a  model  minister  of  the 
Word.  His  mild  and  just  temper  early  led  him  to  doubt 
the  doctrine  of  imputed  sin,  and  of  man's  utter  helplessness 
by  nature;  for  which  amiable  heresies,  complaints  were 
made  by  some  of  the  churches,  and  he  was  subjected  to  a 
kind  of  trial,  or  examination,  as  early  as  1825.  He  readily 
accepted  the  doctrine  of  Alexander  Campbell,  but  was  of  too 
gentle  a  nature  to  become  a  bitter  partisan.  He  was  firm, 
without  dogmatism ;  aggressive,  indeed,  as  a  reformer,  but 
without  rudeness.  His  pure  teachings  fell  from  his  lips  like 
the  dews,  and  sanctified  the  hearts  of  a  people  that  loved 
him.  He  was  not  a  man  for  storms.  He  shrunk  from  all 
ill-tempered  controversy,  and  drooped  with  the  grace  of 
meekness  under  sectarian  abuse.  He  clung  to  the  truth, 
however,  with  a  love  that  never  compromised  or  betrayed 
it ;  and  vindicated  it  as  well  by  the  beauty  of  his  life  as  by 
the  strife  of  argument. 

George  W.  Elley,  while  living  within  the  bounds  of  the 
Long  Run  Association,  received,  in  the  spring  of  1827, 


GEORGE    W.  ELLET.  245 

from  a  Baptist  church,  authority  to  speak  in  public.  But 
he  had  been  a  constant  reader  of  the  Christian  Baptist 
from  the  beginning ;  and  now,  in  his  first  attempts  at  speak- 
ing, he  betrayed  the  influence  of  his  readings.  His  breth- 
ren became  suspicious,  and  charged  him  with  unsoundness ; 
and,  finally,  they  began  to  doubt  whether  the  Lord  had 
ever  called  him  to  preach  !  But  he  preached  on,  neverthe- 
less. At  length,  he  began  to  urge  his  brethren  to  meet 
together  to  celebrate  the  Lord's  death  according  to  the 
ancient  custom — on  every  Lord's  day.  But  this  they  re- 
fused to  do,  saying  that  such  was  not  the  custom  of  the 
Baptists.  His  efforts  to  reform  them  only  called  forth  re- 
bukes from  the  preacher  in  charge,  who  declared  that  while 
there  was  no  authority  for  altering  the  customs  of  the 
Church,  there  was  a  plain  injunction,  to  mark  such  as 
caused  divisions  among  them.  He  also  said  to  the  people 
that  Alexander  Campbell,  in  spite  of  all  his  greatness, 
would  fall,  and  that  all  those  who  now  stood  by  him  would 
fall  with  him. 

Young  Elley  arose  and  answered  him.  A  great  noise 
was  immediately  raised;  for,  in  his  presumption,  he  had 
even  dared  to  contradict  a  preacher ! 

At  the  next  meeting  of  the  congregation,  the  ominous 
question  was  raised : 

"  Is  the  church  pleased  with  her  young  gift  ? "  and  the 
church  voted  that  her  young  gift  was  not  profitable !  But 
the  licentiate  replied  that,  though  they  might  put  to  silence 
their  own  officers  and  agents  as  they  might  see  proper,  yet, 
as  for  himself,  he  felt  that  he  was  authorized,  by  the  Word 
of  God,  to  preach  to  any  congregation  willing  to  hear  him. 

On  their  refusing  to  give  him  a  letter  of  dismission, 
which  he  now  asked  for,  and  even  to  make  the  facts  in 
the  case  a  matter  of  record,  the  young  reformer  arose  and 
said: 


246  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"Brethren,  I  was  born  free;  and,  as  the  Church  of  Jebus 
Christ  is  not  a  prison,  I  withdraw  myself  from  you ! " 

He  accordingly  went  out  from  them,  though  not  intend- 
ing, at  the  time,  to  leave  .the  Baptist  connection.  He  con- 
tinued to  speak  to  the  people  of  the  neighborhood,  and 
became,  in  time,  one  of  the  boldest  and  most  successful 
preachers  of  the  Ancient  Gospel  in  Kentucky. 

Other  pious  and  thoughtful  ministers  of  the  Bracken, 
the  Franklin,  and  the  Tate's  Creek  Association,  also, 
about  this  time,  began  to  reexamine  the  popular  theories 
of  religion  ;  but  they  did  not  yet  commit  themselves  fully 
to  the  cause  of  Reform.  John  Smith  for  awhile,  therefore, 
stood  almost  alone  among  those  who  had  been  his  co-labor- 
ers for  so  many  years.  But  others  were  won  by  the  truth. 
Friends  continued  to  gather  to  his  side,  for  he  proselyted 
them  by  hundreds  from  the  world  and  from  the  sects, 
and  he  thanked  God,  and  took  courage  at  the  thought 
that  in  a  few  weeks  more  they  would  all  meet  him  at  the 
Association,  and  fill,  with  their  songs,  th-*  groves  of  Lul- 
begrud. 


BOONS' S  CREEK  ASSOCIATION.  247 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

Boone's  Creek  Association  aroused  by  Smith's  Preaching — Bracken  Association 
feels  his  Influence — Lulbegrud  and  Cane  Spring  stand  firm — They  take 
counsel  together  against  Smith — Meeting  of  North  District  Association  draws 
nigh — State  of  the  Churches — Gathering  of  the  Messengers  and  People  at 
Lulbegrud — Smith  Preaches  the  Introductory  Sermon — Assails  the  Clergy — 
The  Calvinists  outwitted  and  astonished — John  Smith  Sleeps  with  David 
Chenault. 

BOONE'S  CREEK  ASSOCIATION  was  formed  in  1823,  by 
churches  dismissed  for  that  purpose  from  Elkhorn,  Tate's 
Creek,  and  North  District  It  comprised,  in  the  year  1827, 
thirteen  churches,  with  an  aggregate  membership  of  nine 
hundred  and  eighty-five  persons.  These,  for  the  most  part, 
lived  in  the  Counties  of  Bourbon  and  Clark,  and  were  in  con- 
stant religious  intercourse  with  those  brethren  of  the  North 
District  who  lived  along  the  adjacent  borders  of  Mont- 
gomery. Smith,  passing  the  bounds  of  his  own  Associa- 
tion, soon  began  to  preach  among  the  people  of  Boone's 
Creek  also.  They  gladly  received  his  word,  and  hundreds 
were  immersed  by  him  in  the  streams  of  Indian  Creek  and 
Stoner.  At  Lower  Bethel,  or  North  Middletown,  Friend- 
ship, and  Mount  Zion,  his. labors,  during  the  spring  and 
summer  of  1828,  were  specially  blessed;  he  introduced 
many  converts  into  those  influential  churches,  not  a  few 
of  whom  became,  in  the  new  acceptation  of  the  term, 
preachers  of  the  Ancient  Gospel 


248  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

The  churches  of  Mason  and  Fleming  Counties,  composing 
the  Bracken  Association  of  United  Baptists,  had  already  felt 
the  influence  of  the  doctrine  of  Alexander  Campbell,  and  a 
few  good  men,  such  as  Jesse  Holton  and  Walter  Warder, 
had  begun  to  commend  some  features  of  the  Ancient  Gospel 
with  much  boldness.  When  John  Smith  appeared  among 
them  in  1828,  resolutely  attacking  Calvinism,  and  pro- 
claiming that  every  penitent  believer  might  find  in  baptism 
the  assurance  of  pardon,  the  people  crowded  to  hear  him ; 
the  great  issues  were  sharply  denned,  and  the  controversy, 
growing  more  and  more  earnest,  became,  at  last,  in  some 
of  the  churches,  passionate  and  bitter. 

In  his  hurried  tours  through  the  country,  during  the 
early  part  of  the  summer,  he  touched  on  the  borders  of  the 
Elkhorn  and  the  Licking  Association.  He  went  among  the 
churches  of  Tate's  Creek,  also,  and  gathered  strength  from 
the  sympathy  and  companionship  of  such  men  as  Josiah 
Collins  and  Oliver  C.  Steele. 

But  the  Calvinists  of  Lulbegrud  and  Cane  Spring  were 
unaffected  by  the  revival  which  he  had  excited.  They 
looked  upon  it  as  an  unholy  passion,  which  bad  zeal  had 
stirred  up,  and  with  which  the  Good  Spirit  had  nothing 
to  do.  They  had  hoped  that  the  errors  into  which  he 
had  fallen  would  pass  away  with  the  year,  and  that  he 
would  then  stand  up  before  his  brethren  and  honestly  re- 
nounce them  all.  But  the  year  was  almost  gone ;  the 
meeting  of  the  Association  was  near  at  hand,  and  Campbell- 
ism  not  only  lived,  but  was  wide-spread  and  rank  through- 
out the  land.  They  had  neglected  to  crush  the  germ,  and 
had  nursed  it  in  the  very  bosom  of  the  Church ;  but  now, 
they  would  rise  up  in  the  strength  of  the  united  churches, 
and  destroy  it  forever ! 

Many  of  them,  indeed,  thought  of  the  fate  of  John  Smith 
with  sorrow,  for  they  could  not  but  respect  and  love  him. 


HIS  FATE  DECIDED.  249 

But  they  had  borne  with  him  long,  hoping  to  save  him,  and 
yet  he  persistently  refused  to  be  saved !  His  doctrine  was 
corrupting  the  people,  too,  and  destroying  the  peace  of  the 
churches ;  and,  since  he  would  not  return,  he  must  be  cut 
off,  with  all  whom  he  had  led  astray.  This  they  now  re- 
solved to  do,  gracing  their  resolution  with  pity  for  his  in- 
fatuation, and  turning  their  censure  upon  the  great  apostle 
of  the  new  Gospel,  who,  through  the  pages  of  the  Christian 
Baptist,  had  sent  such  a  strong  delusion  upon  him. 

Lulbegrud  was  still  aggrieved  because  the  Association 
had  temporized  with  Smith's  heresy  in  1827,  and  had  not 
duly  hearkened  to  her  complaints.  But  now,  it  was  agreed 
that  the  blunder  committed  at  Cane  Spring  should  be  cor- 
rected, and  that  Lulbegrud  herself  should  be  satisfied. 

According  to  Baptist  custom,  an  Introductory  Address 
was  delivered  before  the  Association,  at  each  annual  ses- 
sion, by  some  minister  appointed  to  that  honor  the  year 
before.  That  there  might  be  no  disappointment  or  con- 
fusion, another  was  always  selected  to  take  his.  place 
should  he  be  absent ;  to  him  the  honor  of  the  Introductory 
for  the  ensuing  year  was  always  awarded.  In  1826,  John 
Smith  had  received  such  a  provisory  appointment,  and  he 
would  have  preached  at  Cane  Spring  in  1827  had  not  the 
principal,  Thomas  Boone,  been  present.  It  was  his  duty, 
therefore,  according  to  Baptist  usage,  to  deliver  the  open- 
ing address  to  the  Association  in  1828.  But  the  Calvin- 
ists  of  Lulbegrud  and  Cane  Spring  took  counsel  together 
how  to  silence  Smith  should  he  propose  to  preach  in  the 
face  of  the  offended  churches.  But  they  could  do  noth- 
ing ;  for  they  dare  not  disregard  an  old,  established  cus- 
tom themselves,  and  afterward  seek  to  cut  him  off  from 
their  fellowship  for  a  similar  offense ;  for  he  had  been  ar- 
raigned, and  was  now  soon  to  be  judged,  for  alleged  de- 
partures from  Baptist  usages.  Satisfied  that  the  charges 


2$0  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

already  brought  would  be  held  to  be  good  ground  for  his 
excision,  and  knowing  that  accusations  of  heresy  in  doctrine 
could  be  sustained,  if  necessary,  they  concluded,  rather 
than  to  incur  the  charge  of  inconsistency  themselves,  to 
let  him  introduce  the  exercises  of  the  Association,  if,  in- 
deed, under  the  circumstances,  he  could  feel  any  inclina- 
tion to  do  so. 

The  time  for  the  churches  to  prepare  their  usual  letters, 
and  to  select  their  messengers,  came  on.  The  church  at 
Spencer's  Creek  reported  one  hundred  and  seventy-six 
baptisms  during  the  year ;  Grassy  Lick  reported  one 
hundred  and  two  baptisms  ;  Mount  Sterling,  one  hundred 
and  fourteen ;  in  fine,  a  general  report  would  have  shown 
that,  during  the  year,  and  mainly  during  the  six  months 
from  January  to  July,  nearly  nine  hundred  members  had 
been  received  into  the  churches  of  the  Association,  the 
greater  part  of  whom  had  been  immersed  by  Smith ;  five 
new  churches  also  had  been  constituted  on  the  Bible  alone ; 
so  that  North  District  now  comprised  about  twenty-four 
churches,  with  an  aggregate  membership  of  more  than  two 
thousand  souls. 

It  was  impossible,  however,  to  determine  beforehand 
the  exact  religious  temper  of  the  Associatfon.  Many  were 
still  inquiring ;  some  wavered,  or  waited ;  some  watched 
the  signs  of  the  times,  intending  to  trim  to  the  popular 
gale ;  others  were  indifferent,  or  double-minded,  and  not  a 
few  loyally  resolved  to  abide  the  action  of  the  Association. 

The  newly-constituted  churches  had  been  taught  that 
authoritative  ecclesiastical  creeds  and  courts  were  wrong, 
and  they  consequently  hesitated  to  ask  for  admission  even 
into  an  advisory  council  of  Baptists ;  but,  when  they  re- 
flected that  he  who  had  constituted  them  might  need  their 
aid  to  stand  against  his  enemies,  they  appointed  as  many 
messengers  to  Lulbegrud  as  custom  allowed.  At  the 


GATHERING   OF  THE  CHURCHES.  25 1 

church  meetings  in  other  parts  of  the  District  during  the 
months  of  June  and  July,  the  contest  between  the  two 
parties  for  representation  was  earnest,  and  often  angry. 
"Shall  J'ohn  Smith  be  put  down?"  was  virtually  the  ques- 
tion raised  in  nearly  all  the  churches ;  and  it  was  answered 
in  the  character  of  the  messengers  appointed. 

The  fourth  Saturday  in  July  came.  Ministers  and  mes- 
sengers and  excited  brethren  crowded  the  meeting-house 
at  Lulbegrud,  or  gathered  in  the  groves  without.  Spencer, 
Mount  Sterling,  Grassy  Lick,  and  other  churches  favor- 
able to  the  restoration,  not  only  sent  their  full  complement 
of  messengers,  but  followed  on  in  masses  to  the  spot. 
Lulbegrud,  with  all  her  adverse  influence,  was  present  in  a 
body,  demanding  that  her  complaints  should  now  be  heard. 
Thither  came  also  crowds  of  zealous  Calvinists  from  Cane 
Spring,  Gbshen,  and  Howard's  Creek.  Messengers  from 
corresponding  Associations  in  due  time  arrived ;  but  Smith 
saw,  with  mortification,  that  those  foreign  brethren,  whose 
counsel  and  support  he  had  hoped  to  have,  were  not  among 
them !  It  was  the  first  great  organized  struggle  in  the  State 
for  Primitive  Order,  and  he  was  almost  alone.  Boone's 
Creek,  it  is  true,  had  sent  William  Morton,  and  Elkhorn 
had  accredited  Vardeman  and  Creath,  but  they  did  not 
come ;  neither  did  Jesse  Holton  nor  Walter  Warder,  from 
Bracken.  On  the  other  hand,  John  Taylor  came,  represent- 
ing the  Calvinism  of  the  Franklin  Association,  and  Ryland 
T.  Dillard,  the  Hyper-Calvinism  of  Licking.  Others  were 
with  them,  not  gifted  with  speech,  it  is  true,  but  firmly  set 
against  innovation,  and  darkly  frowning  at  heresy.  The 
messengers  of  the  newly  planted  churches  were  there,  but 
doubting  whether  they  would  be  received;  they  had  no 
creed  or  covenant  to  exhibit,  and  were  reputed  to  be  rank 
with  heresy.  But  the  Opposition  saw  that  to  reject  them 
because  their  only  creed  or  constitution  was  the  Scriptures, 


252  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

would  dissolve  the  union  of  1801,  and  give  just  cause  of 
offense  to  many  Separate  churches  that,  like  Spencer,  had, 
from  the  beginning,  known  no  other  creed  but  the  Word 
of  God.  They  concluded,  therefore,  to  receive  the  new 
churches  into  fellowship,  though  they  felt  at  the  time  that 
it  was  a  dangerous  policy  to  do  so. 

When  the  hour  came,  Smith  arose  to  deliver  the  intro- 
ductory discourse.  The  house,  though  large,  could  not 
contain  the  people,  and  he  went  into  the  grove  and  preached 
from  the  stand.  As  he  looked  upon  the  thousand  faces 
before  him,  he  read  the  certain  triumph  of  his  cause ;  for 
he  saw  that  the  people  were  with  him,  though  the  rulers 
might  still  be  against  him.  There,  on  the  logs  before  him 
and  behind  him,  sat  those  who  had  accused  him  of  inno- 
vation, heresy,  or  apostasy,  and  who  had  refused,  a  year 
ago,  to  hear  him  speak  in  his  own  defense.  There  beside 
him  sat  some  of  the  ablest  defenders  of  the  Faith  that  he 
was  trying  to  destroy,  reverenced,  too,  by  many  of  the 
people,  as  the  chosen  embassadors  of  Christ.  Sitting  in 
the  congregation  were  foes  from  other  sects,  curious  to  see 
the  end  of  the  bold  enthusiast  that  had  dared  to  lift  up 
his  single  arm  against  all  the  churches  in  the  land.  And 
there,  too,  with  faces  bright  with  the  confidence  of  victory, 
sat  hundreds  whom  he  had  baptized  with  his  own  hands, 
and  many  hundreds  more  whom  he  had  turned  from  sec- 
tarianism to  the  freedom  of  the  Gospel.  There  were  the 
young  reapers  that  had  gone  by  night  and  saved  the 
harvest  for  his  wife  and  children ;  and  the  women  that  had 
labored  with  him  through  good  and  evil  report ;  and  many 
gifted  young  brethren  from  the  shops,  the  farms,  and  the 
counting  rooms,  some  of  whom  were  already  beginning  to 
preach  the  Ancient  Gospel. 

Solemnly  conscious  of  his  responsibility,  he  arose  with 
dignity,  and,  in  a  voice  that  hushed  every  whisper,  read: 


INTRODUCTORY  SERMON.  2$$ 

You  see  your  calling,  brethren,  that  not  many  wise  men,  ac- 
cording to  the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble  call  you. 
But  God  has  chosen  the  foolish  things  of  the  world,  that  he  may 
bring  to  shame  the  wise ;  and  the  weak  things  of  the  world  has 
God  chosen,  that  he  may  put  to  shame  the  strong;  and  the  ig- 
noble things  of  the  world,  and  the  things  that  are  despised,  has 
God  chosen,  and  the  things  that  are  not,  that  he  might  bring  to 
naught  things  that  are :  that  no  flesh  should  glory  in  his  presence. 
******* 

And  I,  brethren,  when  I  came  to  you,  came  not  with  excel- 
lence of  speech  or  of  wisdom,  disclosing  to  you  the  testimony  of 
God.  For  I  determined  not  to  know  any  thing  among  you  but 
Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified.  And  I  was  with  you  in  weak- 
ness and  in  fear,  and  in  much  trembling ;  and  my  speech  and 
my  preaching  were  not  in  persuasive  words  of  man's  wisdom,  but 
in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power,  that  your  faith 
might  not  be  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power  of  God. 
******* 

The  natural  man  receives  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God ; 
for  they  are  foolishness  to  him;  neither  can  he  know  them,  for 
they  are  spiritually  discerned.  But  the  spiritual  man  discerns 
all  things,  yet  he  is  himself  discerned  by  no  onfe.  For  who  has 
known  the  mind  of  the  Lord,  that  he  might  instruct  him?  But 
we  have  the  mind  of  Christ. — i  Corinthians. 

He  had  long  since  ceased  to  teach  that  God  calls  men 
in  some  extraordinary  way,  to  preach  the  Gospel  of  his 
Son.  The  fact  that  Christ  once  chose  unlettered  fisher- 
men, and  qualified  them,  to  instruct  the  simple  and  confound 
the  wise,  had  been  expanded  by  the  clergy  into  a  rule  for 
themselves  ;  they,  too,  claimed  to  have  been  called  as  Peter 
was ;  they  sometimes  emulated  his  supposed  ignorance 
and  rustic  behavior,  and  even  boasted  of  their  lack  of  learn- 
ing. Nor  had  they  any  the  less  influence  with  the  people 
on  that  account.  Their  very  ignorance  enhanced  their 


254  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

authority,  so  that  not  unfrequently  an  entire  community 
has  unconsciously  worn  the  yoke  of  some  anointed  dolt. 

Smith  had  often  discussed  before  the  people  what  Alex- 
ander Campbell  called  the  arrogant  pretensions  of  the 
clergy ;  but  he  had  never  before  had  the  opportunity  of 
challenging  those  pretensions  in  the  presence  of  the  clergy 
themselves.  He  believed  that  the  people  could  not  be 
saved  from  their  errors  so  long  as  they  were  in  bondage  to 
their  preachers ;  and,  since  they  had  been  brought  into 
that  bondage  through  the  priestly  device  of  a  divine  call 
to  the  ministry,  they  could  not  be  made  free  again  till  that 
device  had  been  exposed.  Prudence,  perhaps,  required 
that  he  should  say  nothing  to  offend  the  ministers  that  sat 
around  him,  since  they  were  about  to  call  in  question  his 
own  right  to  preach  among  them.  But  the  temptation  to 
say  to  them  what  he  had  already  said  to  the  people  about 
them,  was  too  great  for  him  to  resist,  and  he  could  not  af- 
ford to  let  the  opportunity  pass. 

He  argued  that  the  modern  clergy  was  a  self-constituted 
order,  or  an  abrogated  Jewish  estate  revived  in  the  Church 
of  Christ ;  whereas,  by  the  proclamation  of  the  King,  his 
people  were  all  priests,  ministers  of  holy  things,  and 
preachers  of  the  Gospel  of  his  kingdom.  He  declared 
that  in  the  quotations  from  Paul,  which  he  had  read  in 
their  hearing,  there  was  to  be  found  no  more  authority 
for  specially  called  preachers  than  for  weak  and  foolish 
ones ;  that,  if  such  a  call  is  a  doctrine  of  the  text,  then 
ignorance,  imbecility,  and  meanness  must  be  encouraged 
as  the  scriptural  conditions  of  the  call ;  and  it  would  be 
true — as  they  were  slanderously  reported  as  saying — that 
the  bigger  the  fool  the  louder  the  call ! 

Following  the  Apostle's  doctrine  to  the  close,  he  dis- 
cussed, in  conclusion,  the  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 


TRIUMPH  AT  LULBEGRUD.  255 

assailed,  with  earnestness  and  much  effect,  the  popular 
theory  of  spiritual  regeneration. 

Letters  from  the  churches  were  then  read,  and  the  names 
of  their  messengers  were  enrolled.  Till  this  time,  the 
numerical  strength  of  the  Reformers  in  the  Association 
was  unknown,  even  to  themselves.  The  people  without 
were  .generally  with  Smith;  but  the  interesting  question 
was: 

"  Will  he  carry  a  majority  of  those  within  ? " 

Some  kept  tally  of  the  messengers  as  they  took  their 
seats,  and  silently  the  friends  and  the  foes  of  Reform  were 
reckoned  up.  But  the  hope  of  the  Reformers,  at  last,  was 
in  the  representatives  of  the  new  churches,  whose  letters 
were  next  presented,  and  for  whose  admission  they  were 
resolved  to  contend  to  the  last.  But  when  they  saw  that 
no  opposition  was  made,  they  could  hardly  restrain  their 
joy.  After  their  admission,  the  Association  at  once 
addressed  itself,  quietly  and  earnestly,  to  business.  A 
majority  were  now  Reformers ;  but  they  determined  to 
conciliate,  if  they  could,  all  jealousies,  and  to  confound  all 
party  distinctions.  David  Chenault  was  reflected  Mode- 
rator; he  and  John  Smith  were  placed  together  on  com- 
mittee; John  Taylor  and  Ryland  T.  Dillard,  with  Josiah 
Collins,  were  selected  to  preach  on  Sunday ;  and,  then, 
after  the  usual  courtesies  to  corresponding  Associations, 
they  adjourned,  without  discord,  to  meet  again  on  Mon- 
day. 

"  It  has  been  arranged,  Brother  Smith,"  said  a  friend  to 
him  that  day,  after  the  many  greetings,  that  had  brought 
the  tears  into  his  eyes,  were  over,  "it  has  been  arranged 
for  you  to  go  home  with  me  to-night.  Many  brethren 
and  friends  will  be  there,  who  wish  to  see  you,  and  you 
must  go." 

"No,  my  brother,"  replied  Smith,  "I  thank  you.     You 


256  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

are  all  friendly  there;  the  Opposition,  I  learn,  will  be  with 
Brother  French  to-night,  and  I  must  go  to  his  house," 
and  he  turned  off  to  search  for  the  Clerk  of  the  Associ- 
ation. He  found  him  inviting  many  guests,  for  he  lived 
not  a  great  way  off,  and  was  a  most  hospitable  man. 

"Brother  French,"  said  he,  "you  ought  to  ask  me  to  go 
along  with  these  brethren,  for  I  will  undertake  to  make 
them  all  behave  themselves." 

"  Do  come,  Brother  Smith,"  said  French,  smiling  hospi- 
tably. "  Come  along  with  them,  and  make  yourself  per- 
fectly at  home." 

He  went;  and  by  his  pleasant,  conciliatory  humor, 
smoothed  some  brows  that  had  been  ruffled  all  day  long. 
But  David  Chenault,  who  was  present,  was  grave,  though 
less  from  anger  than  from  real  distress  of  mind.  That 
good  man  feared  that  heresy  had  at  last  triumphed  in  the 
Association ;  and,  if  so,  the  blame  would  be  laid  at  his 
door,  for  he  had  tampered  with  it  at  Cane  Spring  in  1827. 
He  replied  to  none  of  Smith's  arguments,  nor  could  he 
find  it  in  his  heart  to  smile  at  his  witticisms.  The  scenes 
of  the  day  were  before  his  mind,  and  he  was  solemn,  reti- 
cent, and  severe. 

The  company,  in  due  time,  retired  for  the  night,  and 
Smith,  with  several  other  guests,  was  conducted  to  a  large 
room,  where  four  or  five  beds  had  been  made»ready.  In 
the  freedom  of  the  hour  and  the  place,  his  wit  was 
unrestrained.  The  general  humor  was  freshened,  too,  by 
draughts  of  delicious  cider,  which  the  host  brought  in,  and 
pressed  upon  them.  But  David  Chenault  was  inexorably 
grave — proof  alike  against  the  inspiration  of  the  hour  and 
the  raillery  of  his  heretical  brother.  With  all  the  unruffled 
dignity  of  office  still  upon  him,  he  went  to  bed  and  left  the 
genial  company  to  themselves. 

In  all  his  life,  John  Smith  never  had  an  unkind  feeling 


HE  SLEEPS   WITH  ELDER   CHENAULT. 

for  his  Calvinistic  brother.  In  fact,  he  loved  him,  but 
it  was  with  a  good-natured  sort  of  love,  that  nothing 
could  solemnize  nor  chill.  He  had  failed  to  thaw  him  into 
fellowship  that  evening  by  any  of  his  pleasant  words,  and 
he  could  not  see  him  now  turn  away  thus,  and  lie  down 
alone  in  a  disconsolate  bed. 

"Brethren,"  said  he  to  the  others,  as  they  were  lying 
down,  "  these  July  nights,  I  know,  are  hot,  and  you  do  not 
need  that  any  warm-hearted  Christian  should  crowd  with 
you ;  yet  I  must  turn  in  with  some  of  you,  anyhow. 
Brother  Davy,"  said  he,  going  to  the  bedside  of  the  Mod- 
erator, "make  just  a  little  room  for  me,  for  I  must  sleep 
with  you  to-night." 

It  was  vain  to  piotest  against  the  intrusion;  so  John 
Smith  and  the  Moderator  of  the  North  District  Associa- 
tion lay  down  that  night  together,  and  slept  till  morning 
in  amity  and  peace! 

On  Monday,  the  session  of  the  Association  was  again 
harmonious;  the  Opposition,  though  surprised  at  the  state 
of  things,  acquiesced,  for  the  time,  in  silence,  while  the 
majority,  satisfied  with  their  triumph,  behaved  with  pru- 
dence and  magnanimity.  The  question  of  Free  Communion 
was  the  only  subject  of  importance  discussed;  they  decided 
not  to  correspond  with  any  Association  that  would  retain 
in  its  connection  a  church  that  communed  with  Pedobap- 
tists  or  vfiih.Arians. 

No  mention  was  made  of  any  complaints  from  the 
church  at  Lulbegrud,  nor  indeed  from  any  other  source ; 
for  no  one  there  dared  to  say  aught  against  the  character 
or  the  doctrine  of  Smith.  And  so  the  Association  ad- 
journed, in  apparent  harmony,  to  meet  again  at  Unity,  in 
Clarke  County,  on  the  fourth  Saturday  in  July,  1829. 
22 


258  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

John  Smith's  Journal — False  Predictions — Walter  Warder  urges  his  presence  at 
the  Bracken  Association — Bracken's  effort  to  correspond  with  Licking — A 
Papal  Calf — James  G.  Arnold  at  Wilson's  Run — Smith  argues  the  question 
of  a  correspondence — Chosen  to  speak  on  Sunday — "Gives  impulse  to  the 
Reformation  in  Bracken" — Makes  a  tour — Visits  Ohio  Locust — Buckner 
H.  Payne — Smith's  Discourse — Strips  the  armor  of  Calvinism  from  Elder 
John  P.  Thompsdh,  who  plants  the  banner  of  the  Ancient  Gospel  in  East- 
ern Indiana — Boone's  Creek  Association  meets  at  Friendship — Extract  from 
Circular  of  1827 — Her  increase  in  1828 — Petition  of  North  Middletown  and 
other  Churches  to  amend  her  Constitution — She  recommends  to  the  Churches 
its  abolition — Her  Constitution— Smith  shakes  off  the  dust  from  his  feet 
against  Stony  Point — Hiram  M.  Bledsoe — Immersion  at  Night — The  Class- 
leader — Curtis  J.  Smith — Close  of  the  year  1828. 

JOHN  SMITH  kept  no  journal;  but,  for  awhile  in  1828, 
he  noted  down  the  results  of  his  labors  each  week;  and 
now,  after  he  had  sat  one  evening  at  home,  reviewing  the 
work  of  the  past  few  months,  he  announced  the  result  to 
his  wife. 

"  Nancy,"  said  he,  "  I  have  baptized  seven  hundred  sin- 
ners, and  capsized  fifteen  hundred  Baptists;  so  we  have 
made  two  great  mistakes." 

He  had  said  to  her,  at  the  beginning  of  the  year,  that 
the  Reformation  would  not  prevail  in  his  lifetime ;  yet  six 
months  only  had  passed  by,  and  it  was  already  established 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  He  had  counted  up  the  sac- 
rifices, too,  that  he  would  have  to  make,  and  had  talked 


BRACKEN  AND  LICKING.  259 

x' 

of  the  persecutions  that  he  would  have  to  endure;  but 
now  he  felt  that  the  struggle  was  over,  and  that  he  would 
henceforth  be  called  to  labor  only  in  pleasant  fields.  He 
ascribed  all  this  success  to  the  Truth  itself;  for,  in  the 
very  hour  of  his  triumph,  he  seemed  to  be  unconscious 
of  his  power.  He  thanked  God,  and  his  wife,  for  what 
he  had  accomplished,  and,  with  strong  hope  and  unabated 
zeal,  he  resolved  to  work  on  in  the  good  cause  as  before. 

About  this  time  he  received  a  letter  from  Walter  War- 
der, of  Mason  County,  urging  him  to  be  present  at  the 
meeting  of  the  Bracken  Association,  which  would  soon 
convene  at  Wilson's  Run,  in  Fleming  County.  He  learned 
at  the  same  time  that  there  would  probably  be  some  sharp 
contention  in  that  Association,  growing  out  of  the  attempt 
of  certain  religious  leaders  to  impose  some  grievous  eccle- 
siastical yoke  upon  the  people. 

It  appears  that,  in  1827,  Bracken  had  requested  a  cor- 
respondence with  Licking,  and  had  said,  in  her  letter  to 
that  body,  that  it  was  unnecessary  to  set  forth  the  arti- 
cles of  her  faith,  as  the  brethren  all  knew  that  she  was 
the  eldest  daughter  of  Elkhorn.  But  Licking  rejected  her 
messengers,  and  demanded  a  more  definite  statement  of 
her  present  faith  —  appointing  a  committee,  however,  to 
bear  a  letter  to  Bracken,  when  convened  at  Wilson's  Run, 
which  letter  set  forth  the  terms  on  which  she  would  cor- 
respond. It  was  soon  noised  abroad  that  Licking  had 
resolved  to  require  of  Bracken  a  pledge  to  support  the 
Philadelphia  Confession  of  Faith.  Such  a  pledge  would 
doubtless  have  been  given  readily  in  1827;  but,  in  the 
meantime,  Smith  had  passed  the  borders  of  North  Dis- 
trict, and  preached  among  the  churches  of  Mason  and 
Fleming;  and  such  men  as  Walter  Warder  and  Jesse 
Holton,  already  moved  by  the  plea  of  Alexander  Camp- 
bell for  reform,  and  encouraged  by  the  boldness  and  sue- 


260  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

cess  of  Smith,  were  favoring  the  heresy  of  the  Ancient 
Gospel. 

Much  discussion  had  arisen,  therefore,  during  the  year, 
as  to  the  course  which  Bracken  ought  to  pursue ;  and,  as 
the  time  for  the  meeting  of  the  Association  drew  near, 
the  two  parties  arrayed  themselves  against  each  other, 
advocating  or  opposing  the  proposed  correspondence  with 
much  bitterness  of  feeling;  so  that  all  looked  forward  to 
the  approaching  meeting  with  much  anxiety. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  Warder  wrote 
to  Smith,  giving  him  to  understand  that  an  effort  would 
be  made  to  commit  Bracken  to  a  correspondence  with 
Licking,  on  the  terms  already  indicated,  and  begging 
that  he  would  not  fail  to  be  present. 

He  went  as  a  messenger  of  North  District.  The  let- 
ter of  Licking  was  read  on  Saturday.  It  declared,  in  re- 
sponse to  the  request  of  Bracken  for  a  correspondence, 
that  Licking,  under  proper  circumstances,  would  not  ob- 
ject ;  and  that  she  would  ask  of  the  daughter,  as  a  con- 
dition, nothing  more  than  what  had  already  been  required 
of  the  mother*  —  to  maintain  inviolate  the  doctrine  of 
grace  as  taught  in  the  Bible,  and  as  set  forth  in  the  Phil- 
adelphia Confession  of  Faith. 

Much  discussion  followed  the  reading  of  this  letter,  dur- 
ing which  John  Smith  sat  silent,  but  watchful,  waiting 


*  In  1825,  Elkhorn  had  expressed  a  wish  to  cultivate  a  Christian  union,  fellow- 
ship, and  correspondence  with  Licking.  The  latter,  after  adjusting  some  minor  dif- 
ferences, consented  to  a  correspondence  with  Elkhorn,  upon  the  inviolate  main- 
tenance of  the  doctrine  of  grace  as  revealed  in  the  Bible,  and  set  forth  in  the 
Philadelphia  Confession  of  Faith — with  the  distinct  understanding  that  each  As- 
sociation would  protest  against  any  departure  therefrom.  Elkhorn  accepted  these 
conditions,  stating  that  she  had  always  maintained  the  doctrines  of  grace  as  re- 
vealed in  the  Bible,  and  set  forth  in  her  Constitution,  and  hoped  that  Licking 
would  unite  with  her  in  maintaining  the  same,  and  in  promptly  correcting  every 
departure  therefrom. 


LICKING  REJECTED.  26 1 

for  a  favorable  moment  to  strike  a  blow  at  what  he  called 
the  Papal  Calf  of  Licking.  Finally,  after  the  debate  had 
become  somewhat  inflammatory,  James  G.  Arnold,  a  mes- 
senger from  the  North  Bend  Association,  moved  that  the 
terms  proposed  by  Licking  be  rejected,  and  that  all  fur- 
ther correspondence  with  that  body  be  dropped.  Smith 
arose  to  support  the  proposition.  Taking  from  his  sad- 
dle-bags a  small,  worn  copy  of  the  Philadelphia  Confes- 
sion of  Faith,  he  began  by  saying: 

"Brethren,  Licking  requires  of  Bracken  an  utter  im- 
possibility. No  one  can  maintain  inviolate  the  doctrine 
of  grace  as  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  defend  that  which  is  taught  in  the  Philadelphia  Con- 
fession of  Faith ;  for  the  doctrine  of  the  Creed  is  not  the 
doctrine  of  the  Bible.  No  two  books  in  the  world  differ 
more  than  these;  and  on  no  point  do  they  differ  more 
widely  than  on  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  grace." 

He  proceeded  to  contrast  the  teaching  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament with -that  of  the  Confession;  and,  when  he  closed 
his  argument,  nearly  all  seemed  to  be  satisfied  that  the 
terms  proposed  by  Licking  were  contradictory,  for  the 
proposition  to  reject  was  carried  almost  unanimously. 

Smith  was  now  chosen  by  the  Association  to  address 
the  people  on  Sunday ;  and  he  did  not  fail  to  improve  the 
opportunity  to  enlarge  upon  the  freedom  of  the  Gospel, 
and  to  urge  the  people 'to  throw  off  every  ecclesiastical 
yoke.  They  were  all  charmed  by  his  manner ;  many  were 
convinced  by  his  reasonings,  and  he  at  once  became  the 
master  spirit  of  the  Association.  In  the  words  of  a  prom- 
inent actor  in  the  scenes  of  that  day,  "//  was  John  Smith 
that  gave  impulse  and  tone  to  the  Reformation  in  Bracken, 
as  he  had  already  done  in  North  District,  Boones  Creek, 
and  other  Associations" 

On  Monday,  Bracken  resolved  to  recommend  no  creed 


262  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

or  confession  of  faith  to  the  churches,  save  the  New  Tes- 
tament. 

When  the  Association  adjourned,  Smith  took  a  short 
tour  through  Mason  and  Bracken  Counties  before  he  re- 
turned home.  He  went  from  Wilson's  Run  to  Mayslick, 
followed  by  many  from  the  Association,  who,  it  seems, 
could  not  be  satisfied  with  hearing  him.  From  Mayslick 
he  passed  on  to  Washington,  and  thence  to  Ohio  Locust, 
a  meeting-house  near  Germantown — the  people  following 
him  from  place  to  place. 

At  Ohio  Locust,  the  first  discourse  of  the  day  was  de- 
livered by  Buckner  H.  Payne,  the  merchant,  who  was  al- 
ready preaching  the  New  Gospel  with  much  success.  The 
people  wondered  that  one  so  young  could  preach  with  so 
much  power,  for  they  looked  on  him  as  a  novice,  and  all 
knew,  besides,  that  he  had  never  been  specially  called  to 
the  ministry.  During  his  discourse,  he  occasionally  spoke 
of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  but  his  father  in  the  Gospel,  who  sat 
behind  him,  promptly  corrected  him  before  the  people. 
"  Say  the  Holy  Spirit,  my  brother ! "  Smith  exclaimed  more 
than  once,  as  the  young  speaker  blundered  against  the 
New  Translation. 

When  Payne  had  concluded,  a  man  came  to  Smith,  as 
he  was  about  to  rise,  and,  in  a  whisper,  directed  his  at- 
tention to  a  stranger,  of  good  appearance,  standing  in  a 
remote  part  of  the  congregation. 

"That  man,"  said  he,  "is  John  P.  Thompson:  he  has 
come  all  the  way  from  the  White  River  country,  in  Indi- 
ana, to  destroy  Campbellism,  and  to  lead  back  the  people 
to  the  old  paths  again." 

"Are  you  acquainted  with  him  ? "  inquired  Smith. 

"Yes,"  said  the  brother;  "he  used  to  preach  here  some 
years  ago." 

"  Then,  when  I  am  done,  I  want  you  to  introduce  me," 


ELDER  JOHN  P.   THOMPSON.  263 

said  Smith,  "for  I  must  know  the  man  that  has  come  all 
the  way  from  Indiana  to  oppose  what  he  believes  to  be 
an  error." 

Smith  arose,  and,  in  his  artless  manner,  introduced  the 
subject  of  his  address. 

"  While  my  brother  was  speaking,"  said  he, "  I  was  think- 
ing, as  I  have  no  doubt  you  all  were,  of  that  passage  of 
Scripture  which  saith :  '  The  natural  man  receiveth  not 
the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God ;  for  they  are  foolishness 
to  him :  neither  can  he  know  them ;  for  they  are  spiritu- 
ally discerned.'  Now,  I  am  going  to  speak  to  you  from 
that  very  passage,  just  three-quarters  of  an  hour." 

He  labored  to  show  that,  by  a  fair  exposition  of  the  con- 
text, the  declaration  of  the  Apostle  could  not  be  made  to 
support  Calvinism.  While  he  spoke,  the  stranger  stood 
in  an  attitude  of  fixed  attention ;  but,  when  the  discourse 
was  concluded,  and  the  speaker  came  down  to  seek  him, 
he  could  not  be  found.  They  searched  for  him  through 
the  scattered  congregation,  but  in  vain.  Next  day,  they 
heard  that  he  had  gone  back  to  Indiana,  with  a  suspicion, 
if  not  conviction,  that  Calvinism  had  no  foundation  in  the 
Word  of  God ! 

"I  went  to  Kentucky,"  says  Elder  Thompson,  speaking 
of  this  incident,  "to  learn  by  what  means  so  many  of  my 
old  neighbors  and  friends  had  been  turned  from  the  old 
paths.  I  heard  Elder  Abernethy,  a  leading  Reformer  in 
Bracken,  defend  the  new  heresy,  but  I  saw  no  reason  to 
distrust  the  soundness  of  my  own  faith.  I  was  about  to 
return  home,  when  I  learned  that  John  Smith,  already  re- 
nowned throughout  the  land,  would  preach,  next  day,  at 
Ohio  Locust.  I  determined  to  hear  him,  assured  that,  if 
I  was  wrong,  he  could  make  it  so  appear.  I  listened  with 
attention  to  the  introductory  remarks  of  Buckner  H.  Payne, 
but,  when  he  sat  down,  my  armor  was  still  sound.  I  re- 


264  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

buffed  his  arguments  with  the  text,  which  came  frequently 
into  my  mind,  '  The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things 
of  the  Spirit  of  God'  When  John  Smith  arose  and  cited 
that  very  text,  I  said  to  myself :  Now,  my  brother,  if  you 
can  do  any  thing  for  me,  so  be  it.  He  began,  and,  with 
the  skill  of  a  master-workman,  in  forty-five  minutes  stripped 
me  bare  of  my  armor,  under  which  I  had  long  fought  the 
battles  of  moderate  Calvinism  !  I  saw  that,  if  his  view  of 
that  Scripture  was  correct,  I  might  say,  as  Napoleon  said 
at  Waterloo — 'All  is  gone  ! '  I  shall  ever  believe  that  God 
caused  John  Smith  to  meet  me  that  day  at  Ohio  Locust." 

When  Elder  Thompson  reached  his  home  in  Rush 
County,  Indiana,  he  entered  upon  his  investigations  of 
the  Scriptures  with  fear  and  trembling.  He  resolved  to 
open  his  understanding  to  every  ray  of  light,  and  to  fol- 
low the  truth  of  God  at  any  sacrifice  of  property,  friends, 
or  reputation. 

Soon  a  meeting  was  held  at  a  house  in  his  neighbor- 
hood, and  a  large  congregation  came  together.  Elder 
Thompson  arose  to  declare  once  more  to  his  neighbors 
"  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ."  He  did  not  intend, 
at  the  time,  to  bring  any  strange  things  to  their  ears,  but 
his  mind  was  full  of  great  ideas  recently  acquired,  and  his 
heart  was  swelling  with  love  to  God  and  man.  When  he 
was  about  half  through  with  his  discourse,  his  spirit  over- 
leaped all  barriers,  and,  as  if  suddenly  inspired,  he  pro- 
claimed to  his  astonished  hearers  the  fullness,  the  freeness, 
and  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ !  That  morn- 
ing's service  was  the  beginning  of  a  great  reformation  in 
Eastern  Indiana.* 

The  Boone's  Creek  Association  was  now  soon  to  meet 
at  Friendship,  in  Clark  County,  and  John  Smith  hurried 


*"  Pioneer  Preachers  of  Indiana.' 


BOOLE'S  CREEK  ASSOCIATION.  26$ 

home  from  Bracken,  to  attend  it.  Like  North  District 
and  Bracken,  Boone's  Creek  was  passing  through  a  great 
religious  revolution.  In  her  Circular  Letter  of  1827,  evi- 
dently written  by  William  Morton,  the  Association  had 
held  the  following  language : 

We  hear  from  some  of  the  churches  that  they  are  endeavoring 
to  return  to  the  Ancient  Order  of  Things :  they  have  renounced 
all  human  devices  in  matters  of  religion,  and  they  recognize  the 
Scriptures  alone  as  an  entire  and  sufficient  rule  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice. We  believe  that  Christ  has  made  his  churches  free  from  all 
ecclesiastical  power  on  earth,  and  that  he  alone  is  King  in  Zion, 
and  his  Word  the  only  law  of  his  kingdom. 

In  the  spring  and  summer  of  1828,  there  had  been  an 
increase  of  about  eight  hundred  and  seventy  members  by 
immersion,  many  of  whom  had  been  brought  in  through 
the  preaching  of  John  Smith.  The  propriety  of  creeds  and 
constitutions  had,  of  course,  been  much  discussed  during 
the  year  among  the  people ;  and  even  the  lawfulness  of 
Associations  as  advisory  councils  had  been  called  in 
question.  Lower  Bethel,  or  North  Middletown,  and  other 
churches,  now  sent  up  a  request,  through  their  messen- 
gers, that  the  Association  should  so  amend  her  Consti- 
tution as  to  make  it  more  compatible  with  the  Word  of 
God* 

The  Association,  comprising  a  large  delegation  from  the 
thirteen  churches,  met  on  the  third  Saturday  in  September. 
William  Morton  delivered  the  Introductory  Address,  and, 
on  Sunday,  John  Smith  preached  to  the  vast  concourse  of 


*  Messengers  of  Lower  Bethel  were  James  Sims,  Thomas  M.  Parrish,  Nimrod 
L.  Lindsay, Charles  E.  Williams,  and  James  M.  Cogswell;  of  Friendship — William 
Morton,  Z.  Ridgeway,  Josiah  Ashley,  Griffin  Kelly,  and  Smith  Jeffries ;  of  Mt. 
Zion — William  H.  Blady,  Robert  V.  Bush,  Elliot  Holladay,  Walter  Holladay,  and 
Henry  T.  Chcvis. 


266  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

people.  Jeremiah  Vardeman  followed  with  general  argu- 
ments from  the  Scriptures,  and  Jacob  Creath  closed  by 
one  of  his  eloquent  exhortations.  On  Monday,  after  an 
exciting  debate,  the  following  resolution  was  adopted,  in 
answer  to  the  petition  of  the  churches  for  a  more  Scrip- 
tural Constitution : 

This  Association,  having  taken  into  consideration  the  request 
of  some  of  the  churches  for  an  amendment  of  her  Constitution, 
after  mature  deliberation,  is  decidedly  of  opinion  that  the  Word 
of  God  does  not  authorize  or  prescribe  any  form  of  constitution 
for  an  Association  in  our  present  organized  state ;  but  we  do  be- 
lieve that  the  Word  of  God  authorizes  the  assembling  of  saints 
together  for  his  worship ; 

We,  therefore,  recommend  to  the  churches  the  abolition  of  the 
present  Constitution,  and,  in  lieu  thereof,  the  adoption  of  the  fol- 
lowing resolution : 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  churches  of  Jesus  Christ,  believing  the 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament  to  be  the  Word  of 
God,  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  obedience  given  by  the  Great 
Head  of  the  Church  for  its  government,  do  agree  to  meet  annu- 
ally, on  the  third  Saturday,  Lord's  Day,  and  Monday,  in  Septem- 
ber, for  the  worship  of  God;  and,  on  such  occasions,  voluntarily 
communicate  the  state  of  religion  among  us  by  letters  and  mes- 
sengers. 

The  question  was  thus  thrown  back  upon  the  churches 
for  their  consideration,  during  the  ensuing  year  of  1829; 
and,  in  the  meantime,  the  objectionable  Constitution,  which 
we  give  below,  was  ordered  to  be  printed  for  the  benefit  of 
the  people. 

We,  Baptist  churches  of  Jesus  Christ,  believing  it  to  be  for 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  prosperity  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  dear 
Redeemer  to  form  ourselves  into  an  Association,  adopt  the  fol- 
lowing as  the  fundamental  principles  of  our 


CONSTITUTION  OF  BO  ONE'S  CREEK.  267 

CONSTITUTION. 

We  take  the  Holy  Bible,  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  as 
the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice  in  religion,  and  are  united 
in  the  belief  of  the  following  doctrines  as  contained  in  the 
Scriptures:  i.  That  there  is  one  God  and  one  Mediator  between 
God  and  men,  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  and  that  in  the  Godhead 
are  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 

2.  That  mankind,  without  •  exception,  are,  in  their   natural 
state,  sinners,  totally  destitute  of  holiness,  and  are  entirely  help- 
less in  themselves. 

3.  That  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  is  the  alone  instrument  of  justi- 
fication, according  to  the  Scriptures,  and  is  the  gift  of  God, 
and  is  ordinarily  wrought  in  the  heart  by  the  Spirit,  by  and  with 
the  Word,  heard  or  read. 

4.  That  salvation  is  wholly  of  the  free  and  sovereign  grace 
of  God  through  the  atonement,  righteousness,  and  mediation 
of  Jesus  Christ,  by  the  sanctifying  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  the  belief  of  the  Truth ;  and  that  the  saints  will  persevere 
through  grace  to  glory.- 

5.  That  there  will  be  a  resurrection  of  the  dead,  both  of  the 
just  and  the  unjust,  and  a  general  judgment ;  that  the  righteous 
will  be  received  into  everlasting  happiness,  and  that  the  wicked 
will  be  driven  into  everlasting  punishment. 

6.  We  hold  that  the  visible  Church  of  Christ  is  composed  of 
such  as  profess  saving  faith,  and  that  those   only  who  exhibit 
credible  evidence  of  faith  in  Christ,  should  be  baptized,  agree- 
ably to  his  command,  by  being  immersed  in  water  in  the  name 
of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that 
it  is  the  duty  and  privilege  of  such  to  celebrate  the  Lord's 
Supper. 

7.  That  notwithstanding  children,  who  are   not  capable  of 
professing  faith  in  Christ,  are  not  fit  subjects  for  baptism  and 
the  Lord's  Supper  according  to  the  Gospel,  yet  we  hold  it  to 
be  our  duty  to  bring  them  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition 
of  the  Lord. 

8.  We  believe  in  the  divine  appointments  of  the  Christian 


268  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Sabbath,  scripturally  called  the  Lord's  Day;  and  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  Christians  to  sanctify  it  to  the  service  of  God,  accord- 
ing to  the  example  of  the  primitive  saints.  We  believe  that  the 
moral  law  of  God  is  a  rule  of  obedience  for  all  men  through 
faith,  and  that  the  Gospel  should  be  preached  to  all  men,  and 
all  that  hear  are  commanded  to  believe  it. 

9.  This  Association  regards  the  independence  of  the  churches 
inviolable,  and   disclaims  any  right  to  exercise  power  in  the 
government  of  them;  and  declares  her  only  aim  and  intention 
to  be,  to  assist,  advise,  and  encourage  the  propagation  of  truth 
and  the  cultivation  of  practical  piety. 

10.  No  query  shall  be  brought  before  the  Association  from  any 
church,  unless  the  church  has  previously  investigated  the  subject- 
matter  of  it,  with  the  aid  of  helps  obtained  from  other  churches, 
without  having  been  able   to  determine  it;    and,  should  any 
difficulty  arise  in  a  church,  or  between  churches,  the  same  steps 
shall  be  taken  to  settle  it  as  in  the  above  case,  as  a  prerequisite 
to  an  appeal  to  the  Association ;  and,  should  an  appeal  be  taken, 
the  Association  shall  give  advice. 

11.  Each  church  shall  send  to  the  Association,  by  her  mes- 
sengers, a  written  statement  of  her  number  received  on  profession 
of  faith  and  baptism,  and  by  letter,  or  restored,  or  dismissed 
by  letter,  deceased,  or  excommunicated. 

12.  The  Association  may  employ  part  of  her  time  in  a  free 
and   familiar  conversation   about   the  state  of  religion  in  the 
churches  composing  her  body. 

13.  Any  church  applying  to  join  the  Association  shall  present 
a  copy  of  her  Covenant,  which  shall  be  subject  to  examination, 
and,  if  received,  shall  be  filed  among  the  archives  of  the  Asso- 
ciation by  the  Clerk. 

14.  The  number  of  messengers  from  any  church  shall  not  ex- 
ceed five. 

15.  This  Constitution  shall  be  subject  to  amendment  by  a 
majority  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  present.     Any  proposi- 
tion for  amendment  shall  be  made  and  seconded  at  a  previous 
meeting. 


STONY  POINT.  269 

16.  This  Association  adopts  the  terms  of  the  General  Union, 
as  ratified  at  Howard's  Creek,  Clark  County,  in  1801,  as  a  bond 
of  connection  between  her  and  the  United  Baptists. 

Such  was  the  Constitution  which  North  Middletown 
and  other  churches  requested  the  Association  to  make 
more  scriptural,  and  which  the  Association,  in  reply,  advised 
the  churches  to  abolish  entirely.  Several  of  these  churches 
had  themselves  alieady  renounced  "humanly  devised 
forms,  or  confessions  of  faith,  and  adopted  the  Word  of 
God  as  their  only  constitution  and  directory — conceiving 
it  to  be  the  great  charter  of  all  their  privileges  and  rights."  * 
They,  of  course,  approved  the  recommendation  of  the  As- 
sociation, and  resolved,  if  possible,  to  carry  a  majority  with 
them  at  the  next  meeting,  to  be  held  with  the  Hind's 
Creek  church,  in  September,  1829. 

Within  a  few  miles  of  Lower  Bethel,  or  North  Middle- 
town,  there  was  at  that  time  an  influential  body  of  Particular 
Baptists,  belonging  to  the  Licking  community,  known  as 
the  Stony  Point  church.  They  had  long  enjoyed  the  pas- 
toral care  of  Lewis  Corbin,  and,  occasionally,  the  able 
ministrations  of  Ambrose  Dudley,  and  other  prominent 
Baptists  of  the  old  Regular  Order.  It  was  a  stronghold  of 
Hyper  Calvinism,  whose  adverse  influence  had  often  been 
felt  by  Smith,  when  preaching  among  the  churches  of  the 
Boone's  Creek  Association.  So  he  resolved  to  try  the 
power  of  the  Ancient  Gospel  on  the  firm-hearted  Calvin- 
ists  of  that  region.  A  few  had  already  softened  under  his 
preaching  at  North  Middletown,  and  they  now  invited  him 
to  come  and  preach  the  same  Gospel  to  their  neighbors 
also.  He  went ;  and  Gurdon  Gates,  the  pastor  of  the 
church  at  Paris,  went  with  him,  with  many  others  from 
that  congregation.  The  young  and  zealous  Reformers  of 


•Minutes  of  1828. 


2/O  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

North  Middletown  met  them  there.  As  they  rode  along 
toward  the  place,  Gates  expressed  his  fear  that  the  house 
would  be  closed  against  them ;  but  Smith  felt  no  concern 
about  it,  for,  though  the  day  was  chilly,  he  was  sure  the 
groves  would  receive  the  people.  But  they  found  the 
house  open,  and  already  filled  with  people.  Groups  of 
men  stood  in  the  yard,  waiting  for  the  man  whose  word, 
it  seemed,  could  move  churches  from  their  foundations, 
and  who  now  had  the  boldness  to  come  and  preach  a 
strange  Gospel  among  the  orthodox  at  Stony  Point.  He 
went  -in  and  took  his  seat  at  a  table  near  the  pulpit.  The 
strong  and  cheerful  voices  of  his  young  brethren  greeted 
his  entrance  with  the  fine  old  song,  from  manuscripts: 

"  How  firm  a  foundation  you,  saints  of  the  Lord, 
Have  laid  for  your  faith  in  his  excellent  Word." 

While  they  were  singing,  an  old  man  came  in,  and  ap- 
proaching Smith,  said  something  to  him  that  he  could  not 
understand,  for  the  whole  multitude  had  caught  up  the 
strain,  and  were  singing  with  enthusiasm.  Smith  rapped 
on  the  floor  with  his  cane,  and  the  song  ceased. 

"This  gentleman,"  said  he,  "wishes  to  say  something 
that  I  can  not  well  hear." 

The  man  now  informed  them  that  the  trustees  of  the 
meeting-house  had  directed  him  to  come  and  say,  that  John 
Smith  could  not  preach  in  that  house,  but  that  Elder  Gates 
might  do  so  if  he  chose. 

Smith  arose,  and  repeating  the  order  of  the  trustees,  said  : 

"  I  came  here,  friends,  by  special  request,  and  I  am  per- 
fectly willing  to  preach  wherever  the  people  may  choose  to 
assemble." 

Several  at  once  proposed  their  own  houses ;  some  said 
one  thing  and  some  another,  for  there  was  much  confusion. 
He  met  the  crisis,  however,  in  his  own  peculiar  way. 


HIRAM  N.  BLEDSOE. 

\  /hen  order  was  restored,  he  took  up  his  hat,  and  while 
every  eye  was  on  him,  walked  toward  the  door. 

"  Though  we  are  not  apostles,  nor  even  successors  of  the 
apostles,"  said  he,  turning  to  the  messenger,  and  speaking 
through  him  to  the  trustees,  "yet  we  come  to  you  bringing 
the  apostles'  doctrine,  and  since  you  will  not  receive  us 
into  your  house,  nor  hear  the  Word  that  we  bring,  we 
shake  off  the  dust  from  under  our  feet  as  a  testimony 
against  you,"  and  the  dust  of  his  shoes  was  left  on  their 
inhospitable  threshold.  Two  Christian  women,  who  loved 
the  Word  that  he  preached,  now  arose  and  followed  him, 
and,  imitating  his  example,  their  lighter  footfalls  were  dis- 
tinctly heard  as  they,  too,  shook  off  the  dust  from  their 
feet  at  the  door.  The  whole  congregation  followed,  and 
gathered  around  him  in  a  grove  near  by.  There  he  stood 
in  their  midst,  at  the  root  of  an  old  maple,  and  while  heaps 
of  forest  brush  blazed  near  by,  he  preached  the  Gospel 
that  he  loved,  to  a  multitude  that  were  willing  to  endCTre 
cold  and  fatigue  and  ridicule  to  hear  him. 

In  the  assembly,  that  day,  there  stood  a  man  much 
respected  for  his  strong,  natural  sense,  and  his  firm  and 
honest  heart.  He  listened  with  intense  interest ;  for  he, 
too,  was  prayerfully  investigating  the  Scriptures,  and  sus- 
piciously examining  the  foundations  of  his  Calvinism.  That 
discourse  gave  to  his  mind  new  light,  and  helped  him  to  a 
more  perfect  understanding  of  the  plan  of  salvation.  Hiram 
M.  Bledsoe,  soon  afterward,  modestly,  but  firmly,  embraced 
the  principles  of  the  Reformation,  becoming,  at  length, 
one  of  the  most  solid  of  the  pillars  of  the  Church. 

That  night  John  Smith  preached  at  a  farm-house  a  few 
miles  off,  and  many,  that  had  gone  to  Stony  Point,  followed 
him  thither  also.  And  thus  they  continued  with  him  some 
days,  as  he  went  preaching  from  house  to  house  among 
the  people. 


2/2  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

•  He  returned  home,  and,  for  the  remainder  of  the  year 
1 828,  confined  his  labors  within  the  bounds  of  North  Dis- 
trict— preaching  regularly  at  Spencer,  Mount  Sterling,  and 
Grassy  Lick — and  giving  what  time  he  could  to  the  new 
churches  that  he  had  planted. 

On  one  occasion  during  that  year,  as  he  was  preaching 
to  the  young  disciples  at  Sharpsburg,  the  Methodists  and 
the  Presbyterians  held  meetings  also,  and  divided  the  at- 
tention of  the  people.  At  the  close  of  his  discourse,  one 
evening,  a  young  man  of  very  plain  appearance,  but  of 
fine  sense,  came  forward  and  demanded  baptism  forthwith. 
Lights  were  procured,  for  the  night  was  dark.  The  entire 
congregation  turned  out  with  one  accord  to  escort  him  to 
the  water.  The  crowd  shaped  itself  into  something  like  a 
procession,  and,  with  uplifted  torches  and  waving  lanterns, 
they  moved  on  through  the  streets,  singing  with  fervor, 

"In  all  my  Lord's  appointed  ways, 
My  journey  I  '11  pursue." 

It  chanced  that  their  way  to  the  water  led  by  the  Pres- 
byterian and  Methodist  meeting-houses,  at  both  of  which 
places  there  was  preaching  that  night.  As  the  procession 
passed  by,  the  congregations  poured  out  of  the  doors  from 
both  houses,  and,  leaving  their  ministers  behind  them, 
moved  on  with  the  throng  to  the  water.  Even  the  solem- 
nity of  a  baptism  at  night,  could  not  hush  the  irreverent 
titter  of  the  people,  as  they  thought  of  the  two  preachers 
standing  there  in  their  pulpits,  indignant  and  alone. 

The  wife  of  the  young  man  who  was  immersed  that 
night  was  a  devout  Methodist.  On  the  first  opportunity, 
afterward,  he  went  with  her  and  attached  himself  to  the 
Methodist  Church.  Her  religious  friends  boasted  no  little 
over  this  unexpected  capture  of  one  of  John  the  Dipper's 
disciples ;  they  indulged  in  much  raillery  at  the  Reformers, 


A    TROUBLESOME  CONVERT.  2 73 

who  could  not,  in  their  chagrin,  see  any  reason  for  the 
strange  behavior  of  their  convert,  nor  any  occasion  for 
merriment  in  their  opponents. 

On  the  next  visit  of  the  circuit-rider,  the  young  man 
was  appointed  class-leader ;  for  he  was  very  pious,  and  well 
read  in  the  Scriptures.  But  he  arose  and  expressed  some 
scruples  at  accepting  an  office  for  which  he  could  find  no 
authority  in  the  Word  of  God,  and  which,  withal,  he  felt 
utterly  unqualified  to  fill ;  and  he  drew  out  a  New  Testa- 
ment from  his  pocket,  and  asked  for  the  text  that  author- 
ized such  an  appointment.  The  preacher  replied  that  the 
appointment  was  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  Discipline 
of  the  Church.  But  the  young  man  persistently  refused  to 
accept  it.  Not  long  afterward,  another  was  made  class- 
leader  in  his  place ;  but  again  he  arose,  with  his  New  Tes- 
tament in  his  hand,  and  said  that  no  man  could  lead  him 
in  religion ;  for  it  was  written,  "  One  is  your  leader,  even 
Christ."  And  thus  it  was  with  every  measure  that  they 
proposed  for  which  there  was  no  authority  in  the  Book ; 
he  stood  up  and  respectfully,  but  firmly,  opposed  them. 

At  last,  they  determined  to  get  rid  of  him,  and  accord- 
ingly arraigned  him,  on  some  frivolous  charge,  before  the 
church.  They  sat  on  his  trial  with  doors  closed,  for  they 
knew  that  the  people  sympathized  with  him.  Many  of  his 
friends  gathered  around  the  house,  anxiously  awaiting  the 
.result,  and  curious  to  catch  some  word  or  incident  of  the 
trial  as  it  progressed.  The  preacher  spoke  low  and  cau- 
tiously, that  he  might  not  be  heard  by  those  without ;  but 
the  accused,  conscious  of  the  fact  that  friends  were  near 
by,  repeated  the  preacher's  questions,  and  made  answer  to 
them  in  a  voice  that  was  distinctly  heard  in  the  yard.  At 
last  the  minister  called  for  the  class-rolls,  and  solemnly 
erased  his  name.  But  now,  his  wife  arose,  and,  strength- 
ened by  her  love  for  her  husband,  said : 


274  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"  If  you  thus  treat  your  members  for  conscientiously 
adhering  to  the  Word  of  God,  take  off  my  name,  too, 
from  your  book."  And  they  both  went  out,  and  soon  after- 
ward united  with  the  Disciples. 

About  this  time,  a  young  man — Curtis  J.  Smith — who 
lived  in  Madison  County,  and  who  had  recently  joined  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  received  the  usual  call  to  the 
ministry,  came  to  Montgomery  County  ostensibly  to  visit 
some  relatives,  but  really  to  converse  with  John  Smith. 
He  was  soon  to  enter  the  Presbyterian  College  at  Danville. 
to  fit  himself  for  the  ministry ;  but,  in  the  meantime,  from 
his  preparatory  reading,  he  had  become  no  little  perplexed 
on  the  subject  of  baptism.  Smith  soon  learned  that  he 
had  reached  the  neighborhood,  and,  meeting  him  one  day, 
cordially  invited  him  to  his  house.  He  accepted  the  in- 
vitation and  went. 

"You  feel,  no  doubt,  that  you  have  been  divinely  and 
specially  called,  my  young  brother,  to  preach  the  Gospel  ? " 
inquired  Smith. 

"  I  do,"  said  he. 

"Why,  then,  do  you  not  begin?" 

"  My  brethren,"  answered  he,  "  say  that  I  must  go  to  col- 
lege four  or  five  years  first,  and  qualify  myself  for  the  work  " 

"  Do  your  brethren,  then,  think,"  said  Smith,  "  that  the 
Lord  has  mistaken  your  qualifications?  How  can  they 
dare  to  keep  you  back  five  years  from  doing  what  the 
Lord  calls  you  to  do  now?" 

This  set  the  young  stranger  to  thinking,  for  he  did  not 
see  how  to  reconcile  the  Lord's  will  and  man's  decree. 

Not  long  after  this,  he  found  the  desired  opportunity  to 
talk  with  Smith  on  the  subject  of  baptism.  He  was  young 
and  modest,  but  anxious  to  know  the  truth.  Summoning 
up  the  necessary  courage  one  day,  he  opened  the  Bible, 
and,  reading  what  Ananias  said  to  Paul,  he  inquired : 


CURTIS  J.   SMITE.  2?$ 

"  When  it  says,  'Arise,  and  be  baptized,  and  wash  away 
thy  sins,'  what  does  it  mean,  Mr.  Smith?" 

"  It  means  just  what  it  says,  my  young  brother,"  replied 
Smith. 

The  answer,  thus  simple  and  suggestive,  was,  however, 
unsatisfactory,  and  the  prejudices  of  the  young  man  were 
aroused.  He  was  discouraged,  and  he  determined  never 
to  affiliate  with  a  people  that,  as  he  supposed,  taught  that 
water  could  wash  away  sins.  But  before  he  returned  home, 
his  thoughtful  friend  put  a  copy  of  the  New  Translation 
into  his  hands,  for  he  appreciated  his  difficulties,  and  knew 
how  to  remove  them.  That  book  satisfied  his  mind  fully 
on  the  subject  of  baptism.  He  soon  afterward  renounced 
the  faith  which  he  had  professed,  and  became,  not  only  a 
convert  to  the  Ancient  Gospel,  but  one  of  its  most  eloquent 
and  popular  proclaimers. 

The  year  1828  now  drew  to  its  close.  Smith,  after  re- 
viewing his  work,  and  prayerfully  considering  the  interests 
of  the  cause  and  the  condition  of  his  family,  concluded, 
with  his  wife's  consent,  to  preach  another  year  as  he  had 
already  done.  He  had  lately  received  some  small  dona- 
tions in  money,  which  enabled  him  to  pay  some  of  the  in- 
terest on  his  debt.  He  hired  a  negro  man,  also,  for  sixty- 
five  dollars,  with  whose  help  his  wife,  ever  ready  to  do 
what  she  could,  undertook  to  carry  on  the  farm  for  another 
year. 


2/6  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOIIN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

Silas  M.  Noel — His  opposition — Philip  S.  Fall — Smith  at  Frankfort — Announced 
as  "  Raccoon  John  Smith  " — Storms  Sectarianism — Revisits  Frankfort — At 
Dr.  Noel's — His  Horse  refuses  to  wear  a  human  Yoke — Preaches  in  Noel's 
Church — "  Horned  Ewes  " — At  South  Benson — Lawrenceburg — Resolves  to 
Preach  in  David  Chenault's  Pulpit — With  Josiah  Collins,  at  that  Elder's 
House — Not  allowed  to  Talk  or  Pray — Stuns  the  Elder  with  a  piece  of  Phi- 
losophy— The  Meeting-house  locked  against  him — Threatens  to  Preach  in 
Chenault's  Parlor — Obtains  the  key  of  the  Meeting-house — Sows  the  Seed— 
A  Scheme  to  get  him  out  of  the  Association — Opposition  to  the  Covenant  at 
Grassy  Lick — His  Candor — The  Covenant  voted  out — The  Calvinists  reor- 
ganize— Smith  lays  down  his  Gift — Withdraws  from  Grassy  Lick — Many  fol- 
low him,  and  organize  the  Church  of  Somerset. 

SILAS  M.  NOEL  was,  at  that  time,  perhaps  the  most 
learned  preacher  among  the  United  Baptists  of  Ken- 
tucky. He  had  been  educated  for  the  bar,  but,  being 
religiously  disposed,  had  early  laid  aside  the  law,  and 
taken  up  the  Gospel.  He  was  for  awhile  pastor  of  the 
church  at  Frankfort,  but,  his  zeal  increasing,  he  gave  up 
his  charge  to  another,  and,  traveling  through  the  country 
as  an  evangelist,  preached  far  and  near,  with  much  suc- 
cess. The  church  at  Frankfort  not  prospering,  he  was 
recalled,  and  soon  became  the  leader  of  the  Franklin  As- 
sociation. 

In  1826,  in  the  Circular  Letter  of  the  Association,  he 
defended,  with  much  tact,  the  propriety  or  necessity  of 
creeds,  and  his  very  able  essay  was  held  by  his  friends  to 


"RACCOON  JOHN  SMITH."  277 

be  conclusive  on  the  subject.  There  was  not  in  the  State 
a  more  powerful  opponent  of  the  Reformation  than  Silas 
M.  Noel — though  he  was  charged  at  one  time  with  being 
an  admirer  of  Alexander  Campbell. 

Shortly  after  Smith  had  begun  to  preach  the  Ancient 
Gospel,  he  was  urged  to  go  and  proclaim  it  to  the  ortho- 
dox community  of  Frankfort. 

"  I  was  called  on,"  says  he,  "  to  go  up  to  the  capital  of 
the  State  and  storm  the  sectarian  fort  of  Dr.  Noel.  No 
one  was  there  to  help  me  at  that  time,  so  far  as  I  knew, 
but  Philip  S.  Fall.  I  authorized  him,  therefore,  to  make 
the  appointment,  but  they  closed  every  church  in  town 
against  me  !  In  his  extremity,  Brother  Fall  went  to  Judge 
Owsley,  for  court  was  in  session,  and  he  was  upon  the 
bench.  I  had  baptized  some  relatives  of  the  Judge,  and 
he  had,  perhaps,  already  heard  something  of  me.  Brother 
Fall  appealed  to  him,  for  it  was  winter,  and  the  people 
could  not  gather  in  the  grove.  '  What ! '  said  the  Judge, 
'is  it  John  Smith,  of  Montgomery?  What  is  the  matter 
with  the  people,  that  they  shut  their  houses  against  such 
a  man  ?  Tell  him  I  will  adjourn  the  court,  and  he  can 
preach  in  the  court-room.'  I  suppose  Philip  had  heard 
that  little  anecdote  about  my  sermon  at  Crab  Orchard, 
1815,  and,  perhaps  thinking  that  some  of  the  representa- 
tives from  the  lower  counties  might  remember  me,  he  wrote 
a  notice,  and  stuck  it  up  every-where  about  the  town,  to 
the  effect  that  Raccoon  John  Smith  would  preach,  that 
evening,  in  the  court-room.  Every  body  read  it,  wondered 
at  ft,  and  came  to  hear  me.  The  room  was  crowded  to 
overflowing — lobby,  aisles,  and  windows  were  filled.  Ev- 
ery member  of  the  Legislature  was  there  but  four;  and 
even  Silas  himself  could  n't  stay  away.  Of  course,  my 
ugly  name  was  fixed  on  me  from  that  time ;  for  members 
of  the  Legislature  carried  it  to  every  county,  and,  when 


2/8  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

I  afterward  appeared  in  any  part  of  the  State,  I  always 
found  that  some  knew  me  as  'Raccoon  John  Smith,  of 
Montgomery.' "  * 

Smith  arose  that  evening  in  the  presence  of  one  of  the 
most  imposing  audiences  that  he  had  ever  addressed.  He 
had  never  stood  up  to  plead  the  Ancient  Gospel  on  a  more 
important  occasion.  He  was  to  speak  before  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people ;  he  was  to  assail  a  popular  doc- 
trine in  the  presence  of  its  ablest  advocate;  he  was  to 
present  to  the  people  a  strange  Gospel,  unfit,  the  clergy 
had  said,  to  be  preached  from  any.  orthodox  pulpit  in  the 
city ;  and,  besides,  the  representatives  present  would  soon 
return  to  their  respective  districts,  and  carry  with  them 
the  impressions  of  the  hour ;  yet  he  arose  without  embar- 
rassment, and,  opening  the  Scriptures  at  a  certain  place, 
read: 

"And  when  John  came  to  Frankfort,  his  spirit  was 
stirred  within  him  when  he  saw  the  city  wholly  given  to 
sectarianism? 

Pausing  a  moment,  and  adjusting  his  spectacles,  he  re- 
marked : 

"  I  believe,  friends,  that  I  have  not  read  it  exactly  as  it 
is  in  the  Book !  The  city  spoken  of,  it  seems,  was  wholly 
given  to  idolatry.  But,  really,  the  difference  between  sec- 
tarianism and  idolatry  is  so  slight  that  the  error  is  hardly 


*  Elder  P.  S.  Fall,  in  a  note  to  the  author,  disclaims  altogether  the  prefixing  of 
the  word  "Raccoon"  to  the  name  of  John  Smith.  True,  in  the  advertisement* 
that  were  posted  about  the  town,  and  that  were  written  by  him,  the  word  occu- 
pied its  place  before  the  name  of  Smith ;  but  he  had  never  heard  him  spoken  of, 
or  distinguished  from  any  other  John  Smith,  except  in  that  way.  He  thinks  that, 
if  any  one  originated  that  epithet,  it  was  Jacob  Creath,  Sen.,  who,  at  an  Elkhorn 
Association,  Tiade  an  appointment  for  him,  and,  on  being  asked  who  John  Smith 
was,  replied,  "  He  is  a  singe-cat  from  somewhere  among  the  raccoons." 

Elder  Fall  is  of  the  opinion  that  this  visit  of  John  Smith  to  Frankfort  was  at  a 
later  period. 


AT  FRANKFORT.  2/9 

worth  correcting;  for  I  do  aver,  my  friends,  that  "sectari- 
anism has  done  the  cause  of  Christianity  more  harm  than 
all  the  idolatry  in  the  world ! " 

He  then  proceeded  to  contrast  the  Church  of  Christ, 
constituted  and  governed  according  to  the  law  of  the 
King,  with  a  sect  founded  on  a  human  creed,  and  gov- 
erned by  human  traditions  and  commandments.  He  was 
heard  with  profound  attention  by  all  present,  many  of 
whom  had  always  accepted  the  doctrine  of  their  preach- 
ers without  the  least  examination.  . 

Not  a  great  while  after  this,  he  went  to  Frankfort 
again ;  for  he  was  hopeful  that,  in  spite  of  the  opposition 
of  Dr.  Noel,  the  standard  of  the  Apostolic  Gospel  might 
be  planted  at  the  capital  of  the  State.  He  hoped,  too, 
that  he  would  meet  with  a  more  favorable  reception  from 
the  people  than  before.  When  he  reached  the  city,  he 
inquired  at  once  for  the  house  of  his  opponent;  and,  on 
his  way  thither,  he  met  the  Doctor  in  the  street. 

"Brother  Silas,"  said  he,  "I  am  on  my  way  to  your 
house.  You  may  not  want  me  to  come,  but  I  am  going 
anyhow,  and  I  expect  to  be  well  treated." 

"  I  will,  indeed,  be  glad  to  see  you  there,  Brother  Smith," 
replied  Noel,  for  he  was  a  courteous  and  kind-hearted  gen- 
tleman. He  immediately  turned  back,  and  conducted  his 
guest  to  the  house;  nor  could  Smith  have  wished  for  a 
warmer  greeting  or  a  more  hospitable  fireside. 

He  had  been  sitting  but  a  little  while,  when  he  saw 
through  the  window  that  his  horse,  which  had  been 
hitched  at  the  gate,  was  loose,  and  wandering  about  the 
street.  He  went  out,  and  soon  caught  and  hitched  him 
again,  for  he  had  only  slipped  the  bridle. 

"Brother  Smith,"  said  Noel,  "your  horse  ought  not  to 
be  blamed  for  slipping  his  bridle,  for  his  master  has  al- 
ready done  the  same  thing  himself." 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"  Silas,"  retorted  Smith,  "  do  n't  you  know  that  up  yon- 
der, in  Montgomery,  the  very  brutes  are  so  well  taught 
that  they  refuse  to  wear  human  yokes  ?  But  down  here, 
in  Frankfort,  I  am  told,  you  have  your  subjects  so  cowed 
that  they  will  wear  any  thing  you  choose  to  put  on  them." 

There  was  quite  a  stir  in  town  that  afternoon,  when  it 
was  known  that  John  Smith  had  come  again,  and  that  he 
was  going  to  preach  in  Dr.  Noel's  church ;  for  the  Doctor 
did  not,  on  this  occasion,  refuse  the  use  of  the  meeting- 
house. But  his  brethren,  and  especially  some  of  the  sis- 
ters, murmured,  and  did  all  they  could  to  keep  away  the 
people.  However,  they  went  themselves,  though  under  a 
kind  of  protest  against  the  liberality  of  their  pastor.  Noel 
himself,  too,  not  only  went,  but  even  sat  in  the  pulpit  with 
him. 

Before  rising  to  speak,  Smith  turned  to  him,  and  said: 

"  I  expect  you  to  reply  to  every  thing  that  you  may,  not 
like,  Brother  Noel ; "  for  I  wish  to  be  set  right,  if  I  am 
wrong." 

"  No,"  said  Noel ;  "  that  would  lead  to  controversy." 

"Well,"  replied  Smith,  "that  is  just  what  I  want  it  to 
lead  to,  for  I  think  that  controversy  at  this  time  will  do 
good." 

At  the  close  of  his  discourse,  he  told  the  audience  that 
he  had  begged  his  brother  to  correct  him  if  he  should  say 
any  thing  that  was  wrong ;  for  he  would  esteem  that  man 
as  his  best  friend  who  should  save  him  from  error.  It  was 
due  the  people,  also,  he  said,  that  every  error  in  religion 
should  be  exposed.  But  Dr.  Noel  declined  any  contro- 
versy, and  the  congregation  was  dismissed. 

"We  are  a  horned  set  here,  Brother  Smith,"  said  the 
Doctor,  next  morning,  alluding  to  the  opposition  that  had 
been  made  to  Smith's  preaching,  especially  by  some  of 
the  sisters — "we  are  a  horned  set." 


CANE  SPRING.  28 1 

"That  does  not  surprise  me,"  he  replied.  "We  know 
from  the  Book,  Silas,  that  the  Beast  has  horns." 

"But,  then,  we  are  the  sheep,"  said  Noel.  "You  know 
that  they,  too,  are  sometimes  horned." 

"  But  the  sisters,  Silas :  you  say  they  are  particularly 
hostile :  do  they,  too,  wear  horns  ? " 

"  Well,"  said  the  Doctor,  recovering  himself,  "  I  have 
seen  even  horned  ewes." 

Noel  accompanied  his  guest  as  far  as  South  Benson, 
and  there  took  leave  of  him.  After  visiting  Lawrence- 
burg,  and  other  places  in  Anderson  and  Woodford  Coun- 
ties, Smith  returned  home,  much  encouraged  by  the  re- 
sults of  his  short  tours  beyond  the  bounds  of  his  old  field 
of  labor. 

He  now  formed  the  rather  bold  resolution  to  go  and 
preach  the  Ancient  Gospel  from  the  pulpit  of  David  Che- 
nault !  He  believed  that  he  had  accomplished  much  good 
even  at  Frankfort,  and  at  Stony  Point:  why,  then,  might 
he  not  make  some  impression  on  the  Calvinists  at  Cane 
Spring  also  ?  This  church,  as  well  as  that  at  Lulbegrud, 
had  been  unaffected  by  the  revival  of  1828:  they  had 
strengthened  their  stakes,  indeed,  but  they  had  not 
lengthened  their  cords.  Cane  Spring  had  even  fallen 
off  in  numbers,  though  she  had  lost  none  of  her  ortho- 
doxy and  zeal. 

Smith  sent  word  that  he  would  be  at  Cane  Spring  on 
a  certain  Lord's  Day  in  February ;  and,  on  Saturday,  he 
reached  the  house  of  Josiah  Collins,  a  prominent  member 
of  the  Flat  Wood's  Church,  in  Madison  County,  and  one 
of  the  earliest  reformers  in  the  Tate's  Creek  Association. 

"  I  am  going,"  Smith  said  to  his  friend,  on  arriving  at 
his  door,  "  to  preach  to-morrow  at  Cane  Spring,  and  I  am 
now  on   my  way  to  spend  the  night  with  Elder  David 
Chenault,  and  I  want  you  to  go  along  with  me." 
24 


282  LIFE  OF  ELDER   JOHN  SMITH. 

Collins  was  astonished,  and  at  once  refused  to  go ;  but 
Smith  urged  him,  and  he  finally  consented.  It  was  a 
blustering,  wintry  day,  and  they  reached  the  house  at 
dark,  in  a  storm  of  snow,  weary  and  cold.  Smith  called 
aloud,  at  the  yard  fence,  and  the  Elder  himself  came  to 
the  stiles. 

"Brother  David,"  said  he,  "I  know  you  always  have 
good  fires,  and  warm  beds,  and  plenty  of  every  thing  to 
eat,  besides ;  Brother  Collins  and  I  have  come  to  stay  all 
night  with  you." 

"I  suppose  you  can  do  so,  brethren,"  said  he,  some- 
what confused,  for  he  was  evidently  not  expecting  such 
guests ;  "  I  have  no  particular  objection." 

"It  would  make  no  particular  difference  if  you  had, 
Brother  David,"  said  Smith,  pleasantly,  as  he  dismounted 
and  hitched  his  horse,  "for  we  have  come  on  purpose  to 
stay  with  you ;  so  get  down,  Brother  Collins,  and  come  in 
and  warm  yourself." 

A  large  fire  soon  blazed  in  the  best  room,  and  the  trav- 
elers were  made  comfortable.  After  the  usual  compli- 
ments, however,  Elder  Chenault  remarked  : 

"Brother  Smith,  I  do  not  feel  willing  to  talk  with  you 
on  the  subject  of  religion  here,  in  my  house." 

"  Why,  Brother  David  ? "  said  Smith,  taken  by  surprise. 
.  "  Because,"  replied  he,  "  my  wife  and  children  will  hear 
you,  and  your  words  may  unsettle  their  faith." 

"  But,  if  your  wife  and  children  are  of  the  elect,  what  1 
would  say  could  do  them  no  harm ;  and,  if  they  are  of  the 
non-elect,  you  can  never  do  them  any  good." 

"But,"  said  the  old  gentleman,  "you  might  disturb  their 
minds." 

"  Well,"  said  Smith,  "  if  you  will  agree  not  to  attack  any 
doctrine  that  I  preach,  I  will  let  you  and  Brother  Collins 
do  all  the  talking." 


PHILOSOPHY.  283 

In  a  few  minutes,  Collins  and  Chenault  were  discussing 
the  influence  of  the  Spirit  in  enlightening  the  mind  of  the 
sinner  before  his  conversion.  Smith  sat  by,  ready  to  speak 
should  the  conditions  of  his  silence  be  violated.  In  his  zeal, 
the  Elder  at  length  made  some  allusion  to  the  dangerous 
teachings  of  his  silent  guest.  Smith  instantly  rejoined,  and 
his  words  put  an  end  to  the  discussion. 

"  Brethren,"  said  he, "  you  may  rest  assured  that  the  Spirit 
can  not  enlighten  a  sinner's  mind,  except  through  words, 
for  we  must  think  in  words ;  nor  can  we  even  imagine  any 
thing  without  first  naming  every  idea  as  we  form  it." 

"  Brother  Smith,"  said  the  Elder,  annoyed  with  this  piece 
of  philosophy,  "  you  are  not  to  speak  ! " 

"Then  mind  the  conditions  better,  Brother  Davy,"  said 
Smith,  and  he  relapsed  into  silence  again. 

But  the  hour  for  prayer  now  came.  A  devout  neighbor  had 
dropped  in  during  the  evening,  and  to  him  the  host  handed 
the  Bible,  requesting  him  to  read,  and  to  offer  the  prayer. 

"  No,"  said  he,  "  I  do  not  think  it  is  right  for  me  to  lead 
in  worship  when  preaching  brethren  are  present :  we  will 
follow  them." 

"  Brother  Chenault,  I  fear,  objects  even  to  our  praying"  in 
his  house,"  said  Smith. 

"  Yes,  Brother  Woods,  I  do,"  said  the  Elder,  "and  you  must 
worship  with  us.  The  time  has  been  when  I  could  have  let 
these  brethren  pray  in  my  house ;  but  I  can  not  do  it  now — 
they  deny  the  Holy  Spirit." 

Woods  led  in  devotion,  and  the  company  afterward  retired 
to  rest.  Very  early  next  morning,  Elder  Chenault  came 
into  their  room. 

"  Good  morning,"  said  he,  "you  philosophers  that  can  not 
think  without  words  !  I  have  come  to  let  you  know  that  I 
have  thought  of  a  thing  that  has  no  name — a  thing,  too,  that 
J  never  saw  or  heard  of  in  my  life." 


284  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

•  Smith  saw  at  once  that  the  mind  of  his  host  had  been 
busy  all  night  with  the  thought  which  he  had  dropped  that 
evening  at  the  fireside. 

"  Do,  then,  let  us  have  it,  Brother  David,"  said  he. 

"  Well,  sir,  I  have  thought  of  an  animal  that  is  one-fourth 
horse,  one-fourth  hog,  one-fourth  ox,  and  one-fourth  bear. 
I  have  no  name  for  it.  I  never  saw  or  heard  of  it  before. 
Did  you  ?  Have  you  a  name  for  it  ? "  and  he  laughed  at 
Smith's  philosophy. 

"  Have  you  ever  seen  a  bear,  Brother  David,  or  an  ox  ? " 

"  Certainly,"  replied  he ;  "  but  have  you  ever  seen  my  ani- 
mal ? " 

"  Not  the  whole  of  it  at  once,"  rejoined  Smith ;  "  but  I 
have  seen  and  named  every  quarter  of  it.  But  think  now 
of  a  quarter  of  any  thing  that  you  have  never  seen,  and  have 
no  word  for,  and  I  will  surrender." 

The  Elder,  though  a  man  of  fine  natural  sense,  found 
nothing  to  say  in  reply. 

After  breakfast,  Smith  invited  him  to  go  with  him  over 
to  Cane  Spring  and  hear  him  preach. 

"  I  will  not  go,"  said  he ;  "  and,  besides,  you  will  not  preach 
there  yourself  to-day.  The  principal  members  of  the  church, 
having  heard  that  you  were  coming,  met  yesterday,  and 
locked  up  the  meeting-house :  they  nailed  up  every  window, 
too,  and  carried  away  all  the  fuel." 

Smith  was  really  perplexed ;  the  day  was  cold,  and  the 
ground  was  covered  with  snow,  and  there  was  neither  house 
nor  barn  convenient  that  he  could  occupy ;  but  he  was  soon 
resolved. 

"  I  will  go  over  anyhow,"  said  he.  "  But  it  is  too  cold  a 
day  for  people  to  stand  out  in  the  snow  to  hear  preaching  ; 
the  women  can  not  endure  it :  nor,  indeed,  can  the  men.  I 
will  go  over  and  see  whether  we  can  get  in.  If  not " — and  he 
arose  and  took  his  stand  at  a  middle  door,  between  the  two 


IN  ELDER   CBENAVLrS  PULPIT.  285 

rooms,  and  measured  the  space  around  him  with  his  eyes — 
"if  not,  I  will  just  come  back  and  stand  here,  Brother  Che- 
nault,  and  talk  to  as  many  as  can  get  into  these  rooms.  I 
kncnrjvtt  will  not  turn  your  neighbors  out,  in  such  weather 
as  this.  Yes,  Brother  David,"  continued  he,  seeing  the  El- 
der's looks  protesting,  "  I  will  do  that  very  thing." 

"  Lord  ! "  sighed  the  Elder. 

"Yes,  Brother  Chenault,"  said  Smith,  "I  can  not  see 
them  standing  out-doors  this  bitter  day.  I  will  go  and 
bring  them  right  here  by  this  great,  roaring  fire." 

When  he  reached  the  meeting-house,  which  was  but  half 
a  mile  distant,  he  found  a  congregation  of  men  and  women 
already  assembled.  The  fuel  had  all  been  removed;  but 
groups  of  people  were  gathered  around  piles  of  brushwood, 
which  had  been  fired  in  the  woods  near  by,  and  they  were 
waiting,  with  much  patience,  for  the  preacher  that  never 
failed  to  meet  his  appointments. 

The  doors  of  the  house  were  locked,  the  windows  were 
securely  fastened,  and  every  means  of  entering,  save  one, 
was  out  of  the  question.  Some,  who  claimed  to  have  an 
interest  in  the  house,  came  to  him  and  proposed  to  force 
an  entrance  ;  but  he  would  not  permit  it  to  be  done.  Call- 
ing a  little  boy  to  him,  he  said: 

"  Run  over  to  Mr.  Chenault's,  my  son,  and  ask  him  to 
be  kind  enough  to  send  us  a  key  that  will  unlock  the 
meeting-house.  Tell  him  that  the  people  can  not  stand 
in  the  snow,  even  to  hear  me  preach,  and  that,  if  we  can 
not  get  a  key,  /  must  take  them  to  some  other  place" 

A  key  was  sent.  The  doors  were  quickly  opened,  and 
the  house  was  soon  made  warm,  and  John  Smith  went  in 
and  sowed  the  seeds  of  an  abundant  harvest  that  day  from 
the  pulpit  of  Elder  Chenault ! 

The  opponents  of  the  Reformation  were  not  long  cast 
down  by  their  quiet,  but  signal,  defeat  at  Lulbegrud  in  1828. 


286  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

They  had  been  surprised  and  discomfited;  but  they  < ad 
not  yet  despair.  Though  Campbellism  seemed  to  be  grow- 
ing apace  in  the  land,  they  were  resolved  that  it  should 
not  long  thrive  among  the  churches  of  the  North  District. 
They  thought  that  they  would  be  able  to  withstand  the 
influence  of  Alexander  Campbell  and  his  paper,  if  John 
Smith  were  only  out  of  the  way ;  and  so  they  determined, 
if  possible,  to  rid  the  Association  of  him.  A  scheme  was 
accordingly  laid  to  reach  him  through  the  church  at  Grassy 
Lick,  of  which  he  was  still  a  member ;  they  would  persuade 
that  church  to  send  a  more  orthodox  messenger  in  his 
place,  even  though  it  should  require  his  exclusion  from 
that  congregation ! 

Smith  was  absent  so  much  of  the  time  during  the  spring 
of  1829,  preaching  in  other  parts  of  the  State,  that  he  had 
no  suspicion  of  any  plot  against  him.  It  had  once  been 
the  custom  of  the  church  at  Grassy  Lick  to  have  the  Cov- 
enant— which  was  a  creed  of  fifteen  Articles — read  at 
every  stated,  or  monthly,  meeting;  but  that  custom  had, 
of  late,  been  dropped,  and  the  Covenant  was  now  seldom 
read,  and  only  by  special  request.  But  at  the  stated  meet- 
ing in  May,  a  member  of  the  church,  by  the  name  of  Hoker- 
son,  called  for  its  reading ;  and  after  hearing  it  read,  he 
declared  that,  as  a  Christian,  he  could  not  live  under  it 
any  longer.  Much  debate  ensued.  Smith,  who  sat  as 
Moderator,  persuaded  that  the  time  had  come  for  delivering 
his  brethren  at  Grassy  Lick  from  the  bondage  of  a  human 
creed,  arose,  and,  taking  the  document  in  his  hand,  said : 

"Brethren,  when  I  came  among  you,  in  1817,  I  joined 
this  church  in  good  faith,  believing  and  defending  every 
item  of  her  creed,  as  I  then  understood  it.  But  I  am 
now  fully  convinced  that  some  of  the  articles  of  that  creed 
are  at  variance  with  the  Scriptures,  and,  therefore,  I  can 
not  conscientiously  teach  or  defend  them  any  longer." 


COVENANT  ABOLISHED.  287 

Taking  up  the  several  items  of  the  Covenant,  one  by 
one,  he  endeavored  to  show  wherein  they  contradicted  the 
Scriptures. 

"But,  brethren,"  continued  he,  "I  desire  to  live  with 
you  in  peace.  I  propose,  therefore,  to  lay  down  my  gift, 
that  you  may  call  whomsoever  you  please  to  serve  as 
your  preacher  in  my  stead.  All  I  ask  is,  that  I  shall  be 
left  at  liberty  to  preach  wherever  the  people  may  wish  to 
hear  me.  This  much,  my  brethren,  I  feel  bound,  as  an 
honest  man,  to  say  to  you." 

James  Mason  replied :  "  Brother  Smith,  no  one  here  has 
complained  of  you,  and  you  ought  not  thus  to  complain  of 
yourself."  The  church,  accordingly,  declined  to  consider 
his  resignation. 

David  Badger,  wishing  to  remove  every  cause  of  offense, 
proposed  that  the  church  should  express  her  present  sen- 
timent respecting  the  Covenant ;  and  the  vote  having  been 
formally  taken,  it  was  abolished  by  the  voice  of  nearly 
two-thirds  of  the  members.  Before  adjournment,  the 
clerk  was  directed  to  prepare  the  usual  letter  to  the 
Association,  which  would  meet  in  July,  and  to  submit  it 
for  approval  or  rejection  at  the  meeting  of  the  church*  in 
June. 

But  the  Calvinists  of  Grassy  Lick  were  much  offended 
at  wjiat  had  been  done,  and,  doubtless,  instigated  by  others, 
they  determined  to  withdraw,  as  a  body,  from  Smith  and 
all  his  anti-creed  brethren.  They  accordingly  drew  up  a 
Covenant,  and  went  around  privately  among  the  disaffected, 
and  obtained  their  signatures.  The  document  set  forth,  in 
explicit  terms,  that  the  direct  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
conversion  is  a  vital  point  in  religion,  and  that  those  who 
believed  it,  and  those  only,  were  to  be  considered  members 
of  the  church  at  Grassy  Lick  !  Having  thus  clandestinely 
covenanted  themselves  into  a  church,  and  virtually  excluded 


288  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

all  others  from  their  fellowship,  they,- too,  prepared  a  church 
letter,  and  appointed  messengers  to  bear  it  to  «the  Associ- 
ation. 

The  meeting  of  the  church  in  June  came  on.  The  reg- 
ular clerk,  as  directed  in  May,  had  drawn  up  a  letter,  which 
he  now  offered  to  read.  But  the  critical  moment  had  come, 
and  Reuben  McDannold,  a  leading  Calvinist,  arose  to  speak : 

"  Brother  Moderator,"  said  he,  "  it  is  unnecessary  for  your 
clerk  to  read  what  he  has  written.  We,  who  stand  together 
upon  the  old  Covenant,  and  we  only,  can  be  regarded  as 
the  legitimate  church  at  Grassy  Lick.  We  have  had  our 
meeting,  written  our  letter,  and  duly  appointed  our  mes- 
sengers ! " 

He  then  proceeded  to  read  the  letter  which  he  had 
written,  and'to  announce  the  names  of  those  who  had  been 
appointed  to  bear  it ;  Smith's  name,  of  course,  was  not 
among  them.  Though  taken  by  surprise,  he  penetrated 
their  scheme  at  a  glance.  He  had  but  a  moment  for  re- 
flection ;  but  in  that  moment  he  deliberated,  decided,  and 
was  ready  for  action. 

"Brethren,"  said  he,  "this  procedure,  as  you  must  be 
well  apprised,  is  all  new  to  me.  I  still  declare  my  wish  to 
live  with  you  in  peace  ;  but  I  now  say  again  that  I  must 
resign  my  place  as  your  preacher,  and  go  wherever  the 
people  may  call  me,  or  the  Lord  may  direct." 

But  Reuben  McDannold  now  replied :  "  Your  resignation 
as  a  preacher  here,  Brother  Smith,  will  not  remedy  the 
evil ;  for,  should  you  leave,  a  worse  might  be  called  in  your 
place;  and,  to  be  candid,  we  would  rather  have  you  here 
than  any  other  preacher  of  your  sort." 

Seeing  that  they  would  not  accept  his  resignation,  he 
proposed  that  they  should  give  him  a  letter  in  fellowship, 
so  that  he  could  join  some  church  that  would  receive  him 
with  his  present  views,  and  he  would  ask  no  more.  This 


GRASSY  LICK  DIVIDED.  289 

they  agreed  to  do,  and  the  clerk  was  ordered  to  write  the 
letter.  His  wife,  also,  without  any  conference  with  her 
husband,  now  called  for  her  letter,  which,  of  course,  was 
granted.  David  Badger,  also,  and  his  wife,  asked  to  be 
dismissed.  Others  were  about  to  follow  their  example, 
when  McDannold,  who  was  growing  impatient,  and  who 
had  an  eye  to  business  at  all  times,  said:  "Brethren,  this 
is  too  tedious ;  it  consumes  our  time.  Have  you  any  thing 
against  those  members,  who,  in  May  last,  voted  against 
our  Covenant,  except,  indeed,  that  they  would  not  stand  by 
it  ?  If  not,  let  the  clerk  be  authorized  to  give  letters  to 
all  that  wish  to  leave  us  on  that  account." 

The  motion  prevailed,  and  forty-three  members  made 
application  for  letters  that  day.  On  Sunday — the  next 
day — the  multitude  crowded  to  the  meeting-house  at  an 
early  hour,  for  it  was  noised  abroad  that  the  church  had 
split,  and  that  there  would  be  a  struggle  for  the  occupancy 
of  the  house.  But  those  who  knew  John  Smith  were  con- 
fident that  he  would  control  the  storm,  and  maintain  peace, 
if  not  fellowship,  among  his  brethren.  Seventy-four  others 
now  applied  for  letters,  making,  in  all,  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty.*  It  was  now  apparent  that  a  large  majority 
of  the  church  were  resolved  to  go  with  their  pastor.  They 
might  justly  have  claimed  the  right  to  occupy  the  house 
one  half  of  the  time.  But  Smith,  anxious  to  preserve  good 
feeling,  and  still  loving  those  whom  he  was  about  to  leave, 
said: 

"Though  we  might,  with  propriety,  call  ourselves  the 
Grassy  Lick  church — and  we  deny  that  we  are,  in  any  sense, 
a  faction — yet  we  wish  to  go  from  you  in  peace.  We  leave 
you,  therefore,  the  house,  the  books,  and  the  Covenant; 


•The  letters  showed  that  nothing  whatever  had  been  alledged  against  their  moral 
or  Christian  character. 

25 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

and  all  that  we  ask  of  you  is,  that  we  may  meet  here  and 
consult  together,  whether,  under  all  the  circumstances,  we 
should  join  other  congregations,  or  form  a  new  church  to 
ourselves." 

The  request  was  granted,  and,  on  the  next  Wednesday, 
the  Disciples  met,  and  resolved  to  come  together  at  an  early 
day  as  a  Church  of -Jesus  Christ,  on  the  Bible  as  their  only 
covenant  and  creed.  Smith  informed  them,  however,  that 
he  could  not,  for  certain  reasons,  go  with  them  into  their 
new  organization ;  but  he  promised  to  preach  for  them  as 
long  as  they  wished  him  to  do  so.  They  then  adjourned, 
to  meet  another  day. 

Thus  the  Disciples  went  forth  from  old  Grassy  Lick, 
under  the  leadership  of  John  Smith.  No  cross  word  was 
spoken,  and  no  unkind  act  was  done  to  give  offense ;  but 
they  departed  in  tears,  and  with  Christian  good-will  toward 
all  whom  they  left  behind. 


JOINS  THE  CHURCH  AT  MOUNT  STERLING.       2gi 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

Smith  joins  the  Church  at  Mount  Sterling — Settles  his  affairs  with  the  Baptists- 
Somerset  Church — Gives  his  reasons  for  leaving  the  Baptists — Sent  as  a 
Messenger  to  the  Association  at  Unity — Calvinists  outwitted — Complaints 
of  Churches  not  heard — Calvinists  resolve  to  withdraw  to  themselves — Elk- 
horn  Association  at  Lexington — New  rule  of  Apportionment — Tate's  Creek 
Association  at  Red  Lick — Josiah  Collins — Oliver  C.  Steele — Thomas  S. 
Bronson — A  great  victory  gained. 

THE  church  at  Mount  Sterling  had,  in  1828,  voted  out 
her  Covenant,  yet  she  continued  to  correspond  with  the 
Association.  Like  Sharpsburg,  Ovvingsville,  and  Spencer, 
though  satisfied  that  Associations  were  unauthorized  by 
the  Scriptures,  she  chose  to  remain  in  connection  with 
them  for  awhile,  in  the  hope  of  soon  seeing  them  converted 
into  general  assemblies  for  the  worship  of  God.  They 
were  constrained,  too,  by  their  love  for  Smith,  to  stand 
around  him,  a  wall  of  defense,  as  long  as  there  was  a  hand 
or  a  voice  in  the  Association  to  be  lifted  up  against  him. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  usual  time  for  the  meet- 
ing of  the  North  District  Association  was  the  fourth  Sat- 
urday in  July,  and  that  Smith  had  withdrawn  from  the 
church  at  Grassy  Lick  at  its  stated  meeting  in  June.  He 
now  hastened  to  present  his  letter  to  the  church  at  Mount 
Sterling,  which  came  together  for  business  on  the  second 
Saturday  in  July,  and  he  was  cordially  received  into  their 
fellowship.  They  had  already  appointed  their  messengers 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

to  the  Association,  however ;  but  when  Smith  told  them 
that,  for  certain  reasons,  he  wished  to  have  a  voice  in  the 
meeting  at  Unity,  they  recalled  those  whom  they  had  ap- 
pointed, and  sent  him,  with  three  others,  in  their  place. 

Just  before  the  Association  convened,  he  went  to  meet 
the  remnant  of  the  church  at  Grassy  Lick  for  the  last  time. 
It  was  the  day  of  their  regular  meeting,  and,  notwithstand- 
ing the  defection  that  had  reduced  their  number,  many 
came  together.  At  the  proper  time,  he  arose  and  said  to 
them : 

Brethren,  about  twelve  years  ago,  I  moved  from  Wayne  and 
settled  among  you,  as  your  preacher,  in  good  faith;  and  in  the 
same  spirit,  you  agreed  to  assist  me  in  paying  for  a  home.  In 
1818,  you  appointed  a  committee,  who,  in  connection  with 
brethren  from  other  churches,  joined  me  in  selecting  a  farm. 
We  found  a  place  containing  about  one  hundred  acres,  and 
bought  it.  You,  brethren,  helped  me  to  make  the  first  payment. 
Hard  times  came  on,  and  the  circulation  of  money  almost  ceased. 
Soon  afterward,  I  began  to  change  my  views  respecting  some  of 
the  doctrines  set  forth  in  our  Confession;  and,  as  I  departed 
from  your  faith,  you  thought  proper  to  render  me  no  more  as- 
sistance. My  creditors  sold  out  the  debt  upon  me  to  my  neigh- 
bors, and  I  went  into  the  Commonwealth's  Bank,  borrowed  the 
money,  and  paid  off  the  debt.  What  I  yet  owe  for  that  farm, 
stands  against  me  yonder,  in  the  Bank  at  Mount  Sterling. 

I  now  ask  you  to  appoint  a  committee  of  brethren  to  make  a 
settlement  with  me.  I  propose  that  if  you  will  refund  to  me 
what  I  advanced  out  of  my  own  pocket,  and  assume  my  present 
indebtedness  to  the  bank,  which  I  have  already  reduced,  I  will 
deed  back  to  you  the  land,  and  you  may  settle  any  preacher  on 
it  that  you  please. 

When  he  had  made  this  proposition,  Reuben  McDannold 
said : 

"  Brethren,  I  have  been  making  a  calculation,  and  I  be- 
lieve that  we  are  in  his  debt !  for  all  that  we  paid  for  him 


CHURCH  AT  SOMERSET.  293 

on  the  land,  in  1818,  does  not  amount  to  as  much  as  fifty 
dollars  a  year  for  his  preaching ;  and  we  have  never  paid 
him  any  thing  else  for  his  services !  I,  therefore,  oppose 
the  proposition,  and  suggest  that  we,  the  church  at  Grassy 
Lick,  assure  him  that  he  owes  us  nothing  at  all."  This 
assurance  having  been  unanimously  given,  Smith  departed 
from  them  again  in  peace,  but  to  return  no  more. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Disciples  that  had  withdrawn  from 
Grassy  Lick,  met  together  again,  and  resolved  to  build  a 
meeting-house  as  soon  as  practicable.  The  site  selected 
was  a  richly  wooded  hill  that  overlooked  the  Somerset,  two 
miles  east  of  Grassy  Lick,  and  six  miles  north  of  Mount 
Sterling.  There,  in  a  maple  grove,  they  met  for  awhile, 
united  by  a  common  faith,  and  constituted  on  the  Word 
of  God,  the  creed  of  each  disciple.  Until  the  house 
was  completed,  they  continued  to  worship  in  the  grove, 
where  they  had  erected  a  rude  stand,  and  roiled  the  logs 
together  for  seats.  They  met  at  first  monthly,  on  the 
third  Sunday ;  for  Smith  had  promised  to  be  with  them, 
on  that  day,  as  long  as  he  could.  They  had  no  elders  for 
some  time ;  but  David  Badger  and  Franklin  Taylor  were 
chosen  deacons ;  afterward,  when  they  began  to  meet 
weekly,  Philip  Hathaway,  Newton  Lane,  David  Cassady, 
and  Samuel  Carrington  were  ordained  elders.  The  church 
continued  to  grow  in  influence  and  in  numbers,  and  faith- 
fully tried  to  conform,  in  all  respects,  to  the  Ancient  and 
Apostolic  order  of  things. 

The  following  words,  from  the  lips  of  Elder  Smith,  have 
special  interest  in  this  connection : 

I  have  sometimes  been  asked  why  I  left  the  Baptist  Church,  and 
I  have,  on  several  occasions,  answered,  in  substance,  as  follows : 

I.  I  did  not  believe  the  doctrines  of  the  Philadelphia  Con- 
fession of  Faith  to  be  in  accordance  with  the  Word  of  God ;  and, 
of  course,  I  could  not  conscientiously  teach  them. 


294  LIFE  OF  ELDEfi  JOHN  SMITH. 

II.  I  could  not  find  such  a  thing  as  a  Baptist  Church  named 
in  the  Bible. 

III.  I  found  that  the  kind  of  experience  which  they  required 
was  unknown  to  any  of  the  saints  of  the  New  Testament.     I  re- 
called my  own  experience,  and  compared  it  with  the  conversions 
given  in  the  Bible;  and  I  was  astonished  to  find  that  sinners, 
when  convinced  of  sin  and  desired  salvation,  instead  of  ago- 
nizing for  months,  as  I  had  done,  did  not  wait  a  single  day  to 
find  it ;  except,  perhaps,  Saul  of  Tarsus,  who  waited  and  prayed 
three  days  before  he  was  told  what  to  do.     In  bringing  every 
thing  to  test,  however,  I  found  these  points  in  my  experience : 

1.  I  believed  sincerely  in  the  Lord  Jesus;  this  I  knew  the 
Word  of  God  required,  and  I  felt  conscious  of  this  qualification. 

2.  I  was  conscious  that  I  had  repented  of  all  my  sins;  this, 
also,  I  knew  the  Word  of  God  demanded. 

3.  I  knew  that  I  had  been  immersed;  and  this,  I  saw,  the 
Lord  required  of  every  believing  penitent. 

I  saw  clearly  that  instead  of  being  required  to  tell  all  the  work- 
ings of  my  mind,  they  should  have  required  these  three  things 
and  nothing  more,  in  order  to  my  admission  into  the  Church. 
True,  when  I  was  immersed,  I  submitted  to  it  simply  as  a  com- 
mand of  God,  without  knowing  the  blessings  connected  with  it. 

IV.  I  found,  also,  this  glaring  inconsistency  among  the  Bap- 
tists: while  they  taught  that  a  man  must  be  a  Christian  in  the 
Bible  sense  of  that  term,  before  they  could  admit  him  to  baptism, 
yet,  until  he  was  baptized,  they  allowed  him  no  more  privileges 
among  them  than  a  pagan  or  a  publican. 

V.  I  was  well  persuaded  that  God  never  authorized  any  man 
or  set  of  men  to  make  Articles  of  Faith  or  Rules  of  Practice  for 
the  subjects  of  his  kingdom. 

VI.  I  was  convinced,  moreover,  that  it  was  not  the  custom  of 
the  ancient  and  apostolic  churches  to  eat  the  Lord's  Supper, 
monthly,  or  quarterly,  but  that  the  disciples  met  together  for 
that  purpose  every  first  day  of  the  week. 

Now,  convinced  as  I  was  that  the  Baptists  taught  many  erro- 
neous, and  some  dangerous,  doctrines — that  they  had  given 


MEETING  AT  UNITY.  2$$ 

tf 

their  church  a  name  unauthorized  by  the  Scriptures — that  their 
practice  of  admitting  members  to  baptism  by  experience  was  also 
unauthorized — that  they  assumed  the  authority  to  make  laws  and 
rules  for  the  government  of  Christ's  Church — and  that  they  neg- 
lected to  celebrate  the  Lord's  death  more  than  two,  four,  or 
twelve  times  a  year;  seeing  all  these  things,  I  could  not  consci- 
entiously remain  a  Baptist,  especially  when  they  were  not  willing 
for  me  to  preach  and  practice  among  them  what  I  believed  to  be 
the  truth. 

The  North  District  Association  convened  at  Unity 
meeting-house,  in  Clark  County,  on  the  fourth  Saturday  in 
July,  1829.  The  introductory  sermon  was  delivered  by 
Elder  Thomas  White,  who  earnestly  enforced  the  exhorta- 
tion of  the  Apostle,  "Let  brotherly  love  continue"  There 
was  a  full  representation  from  nearly  all  the  twenty-four 
churches  of  the  District.  Lulbegrud  still  complained,  de- 
claring that  in  consequence  of  changes  which  were  taking 
place  in  the  Association  respecting  the  administration  of 
the  Lord's  Supper  and  other  matters,  she  could  not  com- 
mune !  Goshen  complained  of  new  forms  of  words 
adopted  and  used  in  the  administration  of  baptism,  etc., 
and  she  now  begged  the  Association  to  give  ear  to  her 
complaint!  The  letter  of  Cane  Spring  also  breathed  a 
sad  and  complaining  spirit. 

The  letter  from  Grassy  Lick,  brought  by  the  hands  of 
Reuben  McDannold  and  others,  was  in  due  time  presented, 
and  every  ear  listened  as  the  names  of  her  accredited  mes- 
sengers were  announced. 

"  He  is  left  out ! "  said  an  old  Calvinist,  and  he  bright- 
ened all  over  with  delight.  "  He  is  left  out  at  last ! "  and 
an  undignified  chuckling  enlivened  the  benches  around 
him.  The  countenance  even  of  David  Chenault  relented, 
and  a  sort  of  sober  joy  shone  in  his  gray  eye. 

Smith  sat  by,  patient  and  demure,  betraying  none  of 


296  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

the  humor  that  was  secretly  welling  up  within  him.  The  let- 
ter from  the  church  at  Mount  Sterling  was  in  due  time  read. 
It  closed  with  something  like  these  words :  "  We  send 
this  letter  by  the  hand  of  our  brethren,  Buckner  H.  Payne, 
Kenaz  Farrow,  William  Orear,  and  our  beloved  Bishop, 
John  Smith  !"  At  the  mention  of  that  name,  the  coun- 
tenance of  Goshen,  and  of  Cane  Spring,  and  of  Lulbegrud, 
and  of  Calvinistic  Grassy  Lick,  instantly  fell ;  the  chuckling 
benches  grew  solemn,  and  that  ghost  of  a  joy  which  had 
appeared  in  the  Moderator's  face  vanished  away  ! 

The  Reformers  at  Unity  manifested  the  same  concilia- 
tory and  fraternal  spirit  that  had  animated  them  at  Lulbe- 
grud in  1828.  David  Chenault  was  re-elected  Moderator, 
James  French,  Clerk,  and  Buckner  H.  Payne,  his  Assist- 
ant. John  Smith  and  David  Chenault  were  placed  to- 
gether on  committee ;  while  John  Taylor  and  Jacob 
Creath,  jr.,  Ryland  T.  Dillard,  and  William  Morton  were 
elected  to  address  the  people  from  pulpit  and  stand  on 
Sunday ! 

When  the  proper  committee  met  to  decide  what  mat- 
ters should  be  presented  on  Monday,  Smith  insisted  that 
the  complaints  of  Goshen  and  Lulbegrud  should  receive 
attention.  He  rejoiced  that  an  opportunity  had  now  come, 
when  all  those  things  for  which  he  and  his  brethren  had 
been  so  much  censured,  would  be  thoroughly  discussed. 
But  the  Calvinistic  members  of  the  committee  strenuously 
opposed  the  introduction  of  these  matters.  His  own  pres- 
ence, and  that  of  so  many  of  his  brethren,  evidently  dis- 
concerted them,  and  they  knew  not  what  to  do.  His  ar- 
gument at  last  prevailed,  and  they  agreed  to  bring  forward 
the  complaints  of  Lulbegrud  and  Goshen.  But  on  Mon- 
day they  reconsidered  their  action,  and  refused  to  pay  any 
attention  to  the  complaints  of  the  churches.  David  Chen- 
ault, on  the  other  hand,  arose,  and  declared  : 


ELKUORN  ASSOCIATION.  2g? 

"  Brethren,  we  can  do  nothing ;  for  those  who  are  com- 
plained against  are  more  numerous  than  those  who  com- 
plain. There  is  only  one  course  that  is  left  to  us,  and  that 
is,  to  withdraw  ourselves  from  them" 

Thus  fell  the  unfortunate  words  that  drove  away  the 
spirit  of  compromise,  and  invited  that  of  jealousy  and  party 
strife !  Those  words,  deliberately  uttered,  were  caught  up 
by  the  churches,  and  afterward  repeated  as  a  watch-word 
by  such  as  were  resolved  to  stand  by  the  old  landmarks 
against  all  innovation  or  reform. 

After  adopting  a  Circular  Letter  which  breathed  the 
spirit  of  brotherly  love,  they  adjourned  to  meet  at  Spencer, 
in  Montgomery  County,  on  the  fourth  Saturday  in  July, 
1830. 

Smith  returned  home,  encouraged  at  the  triumph  of  the 
Apostolic  Gospel,  but  sad  with  the  thought  that  a  minor- 
ity of  his  brethren  were  resolved  to  divide  the  Associa- 
tion. 

The  Elkhorn  Association  convened  that  year  at  Lex- 
ington, and  he  was  present  as  a  representative,  or  corre- 
sponding messenger,  from  North  District.  Elkhorn  seemed 
to  move  sluggishly  in  the  work  of  Reform.  The  influence 
of  such  members  as  Vardeman  and  Waller,  supported  by 
Dillard,  Noel,  and  Dudley,  checked  the  spirit  of  revolu- 
tion, and  steadily  held  that  community  to  its  ancient  Con- 
stitution. Nothing  of  special  interest  occurred  during 
the  session  of  1829,  save,  perhaps,  the  adoption  of  a  new 
rule  of  representation.  It  was  agreed  that,  henceforth, 
"all  the  churches  composing  the  Association  should  be 
entitled  to  at  least  two  votes  ;  if,  however,  any  church  was 
composed  of  one  hundred  members,  three  votes  ;  and  then 
one  vote  more  for  every  additional  hundred  members;" 
and  they  recommended  that  the  churches  should,  in  fu- 
ture, send  messengers  according  to  that  ratio.  This  new 


2Q8  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

rule  of  apportionment  deserves  mention  here  on  account 
of  its  bearing  on  subsequent  events. 

It  should  be  mentioned,  also,  that  at  this  same  meeting 
Jacob  Creath,  sen.,  introduced  a  resolution,  proposing,  that 
inasmuch  as  all  the  Corresponding  Associations,  except 
Licking,  acknowledged  the  Terms  of  Union,  while  few  ever 
saw  the  Philadelphia  Confession  of  Faith,  from  the  present 
time,  the  Terms  of  Union  should  be  made  the  basis  of  cor- 
respondence with  churches  and  associations.  But  this 
proposition  was  rejected. 

A  circular  letter,  which  had  been  prepared  by  Jacob 
Creath,  jr.,  was  also  rejected,  probably  on  account  of  cer- 
tain references  which  it  contained  to  the  two  great  isms 
of  the  day,  to  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  Grace,  and  to  the 
traditions  of  men  as  opposed  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  It 
was,  however,  recommitted  to  its  author,  in  connection 
with  Jeremiah  Vardeman  and  John  T.  Johnson,  at  that  time 
a  messenger  from  the  church  at  the  Great  Crossings,  who, 
in  a  short  time,  reported  a  letter  that  was  read  and  unani- 
mously adopted. 

The  Tate's  Creek  Association  met  on  the  fourth  Satur- 
day in  August,  at  Red  Lick  meeting-house,  in  Madison 
County.  John  Smith  had  often  preached  within  the  bounds 
of  that  community,  especially  to  the  people  of  Flat  Woods, 
White  Oak  Pond,  and  Silver  Creek.  The  leaven  had  early 
begun  to  work  in  those  churches ;  for  they  had  among 
them  such  men  as  Josiah  Collins,  Thomas  S.  Bronston, 
and  Oliver  C.  Steele.  But  a  majority  of  the  Association 
bitterly  opposed  the  Reformation,  not  so  much,  perhaps, 
from  any  intelligent  conviction  respecting  it,  for  they 
seem,  for  the  most  part,  to  have  misunderstood  its  prin- 
ciples, as  from  a  common  prejudice  that  rejects,  without 
examination,  every  doctrine  that  tends  to  abolish  old  re- 
ligious customs. 


TATE'S  CREEK  ASSOCIATION1.  299 

The  teaching  of  Josiah  Collins  ^and  others,  that  faith  is 
a  simple,  heart-felt  trust  in  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  that  it  is 
produced  by  inspired  testimony,  and  that  it  works  by  love, 
and  purifies  the  heart,  was  construed  into  a  denial  of  all 
spiritual  agency  and  Christian  experience.  It  was,  more- 
over, declared  that  the  holding  of  such  views  by  any  church 
was  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  1793,  and  that  it 
furnished  good  grounds  for  its  exclusion  from  the  Asso- 
ciation. The  friends  of  Reform  consequently  felt  some 
concern,  when  the  meeting  came  on,  lest  they  should  be 
rejected.  They  desired  to  continue  their  correspondence 
with  the  Association,  for  the  sake  of  the  influence  which 
they  supposed  such  a  connection  would  give  them ;  for  they 
felt  that,  should  they  be  cast  out  in  the  hour  of  their  weak- 
ness from  fellowship  with  their  brethren,  they  might  not 
be  able  to  gain  the  ears  of  the  people,  and  stand  up  alone 
against  the  opposition  of  the  clergy. 

In  this  exigency  they  turned  their  eyes  to  John  Smith ; 
and,  when  he  appeared  among  them  on  the  day  before  the 
meeting,  they  felt  that  with  such  a  man  to  plead  their  cause 
there  was  no  danger  of  defeat.  On  Saturday,  therefore,  he 
demonstrated  before  the  Association,  from  the  Constitu- 
tion itself,  that  those  who  were  called  Campbellites  had  not 
violated  that  Ancient  Confession  in  any  item  whatever. 
The  representatives  of  the  heretical  churches  were  finally 
admitted  to  seats,  the  more  readily,  perhaps,  because  they 
.seemed  to  be  but  a  helpless  and  harmless  minority.  But 
when  the  question  came  up  on  Saturday,  who  should  preach 
on  Lord's  Day,  it  was  obvious  to  the  Calvinists,  from  the 
balloting,  that  some  powerful  influence  was  working  against 
them  among  the  people  ;  for  John  Smith,  in  spite  of  clerical 
opposition,  was  elected  to  speak.  After  conference  with 
his  friends,  he  resolved  to  seize  the  opportunity  and  to  tell 
the  people  plainly  what  the  Reformation  was ;  and  to  give 


300  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

his  reasons  for  every  departure  that  he  had  made  from 
Baptist  doctrine  or  custom. 

When  he  was  about  to  rise  on  Sunday  afternoon,  after 
three  others  had  already  spoken,  one  of  the  Calvinistic 
preachers,  who  sat  near  him  on  the  stand,  thinking,  per- 
haps, that  he  could  draw  off  a  portion  of  the  people,  pre- 
pared to  leave.  He  announced,  at  the  same  time,  that, 
under  the  circumstances,  he  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  with- 
draw. But  Smith,  maintaining  his  self-control,  begged  him, 
in  the  hearing  of  the  people,  to  remain  and  hear  him. 

"  I  will  tell  you,"  said  he,  "  all  about  Campbellism.  Stay, 
brethren,  and  hear  me,"  for  he  saw  that  others  were  about 
to  leave  the  stand. 

They  sat  down ;  and  the  people  now  crowded  up  from 
all  parts  of  the  grounds  where  they  had  been  dispersed. 
He  proceeded  to  name  every  item  of  Baptist  faith  and 
practice  that  he  had  given  up,  and  to  explain  his  reasons 
for  doing  so.  He  spoke  at  .length,  for  the  interest  of  his 
hearers  seemed  not  to  flag  for  one  moment.  He  was  frank 
and  explicit  in  his  statements,  but  kind  and  conciliatory 
in  his  manner.  The  people  were  more  than  pleased ;  they 
were  delighted  and  convinced.  Even  the  preachers  could 
find  nothing  to  gainsay  or  condemn.  He  closed  his  ad- 
dress, and,  while  his  eye  still  beamed  with  the  inspiration 
of  the  hour,  and  his  heart  throbbed  with  the  fervor  of  his 
melting  exhortation,  the  very  preachers  that  had  scrupled 
to  sit  by  and  hear  him,  now  came  up  to  him  in  tears,  and 
affectionately  grasped  his  hand.  Some  happy  heart  in 
the  congregation  burst  into  singing,  and  hundreds  caught 
up  the  strain.  People,  overpowered  by  their  feelings, 
rushed  to  the  stand,  and,  crowding  upon  it,  seized  and 
shook  his  hand  with  unrepressed  raptures.  In  the  midst 
of  this  strange  scene,  Smith  raised  his  voice  and  exclaimed, 
in  the  hearing  of  the  multitude : 


VICTORY  GAINED.  30 1 

"  Now,  brethren,  if  you  will  only  live  like  Christians,  a 
great  victory  for  the  Gospel  will  be  gained." 

.  "  Brother  Smith ! "  shouted  Bronston,  at  the  very  top 
of  his  voice,  "  't  is  gained  already !  That  're  is  to^say,  the 
victory  is  gained  now!" 

And  so,  indeed,  it  was,  as   subsequent  events  abun- 
dantly proved. 


3O2  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

Bracken  Association  at  Poplar  Run — Elder  William  Vaughn,  replies  to  Smith — 
Smith  rejoins — The  Dun  Colt — Smith  at  Mayslick — At  Bracken — Elder 
Vaughn's  Concession — Betrays  Confidence — Boone's  Creek  Association  at 
Hind's  Creek — Her  Constitution  sustained  by  a  Majority — Spirit  of  the  six 
dissenting  Churches — Policy  of  the  North  District  Calvinists — James  French 
— His  character — "Three  days'  meetings" — The  Disciples  assemble  at  Mount 
Zion— Smith's  address — Vardeman's  defection — Smith  challenges  him  at 
David's  Fork. 

AT  the  Bracken  Association,  which  met  in  September, 
at  Poplar  Run,  in  Fleming  County,  Smith  and  two  other 
preachers,  friendly  to  the  Reformation,  were  chosen  by 
ballot  to  speak  on  Sunday.  Just  after  the  last  discourse 
on  that  day,  Elder  William  Vaughn  announced  to  the  con- 
gregation that  he  would,  on  the  next  day,  at  the  stand, 
reply  to  all  that  had  been  said.  At  the  appointed  hour, 
while  the  Association  was  sitting  in  the  house  near  by,  he 
met  a  large  assembly  in  the  grove,  and,  for  two  hours,  con- 
troverted the  positions  of  Smith,  assailing,  with  some  force, 
the  doctrine  that  forgiveness  is  graciously  obtained  only 
through  faith  and  obedience ;  in  other  words,  that  the 
Gospel  must  be  obeyed,  as  well  as  believed,  as  a  con- 
dition of  pardon.  He  contended  that  justification  is 
wholly  of  grace,  and  not  of  works — alleging  that  those 
who  preached  baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins  virtually 
denied  the  blessedness  of  that  righteousness  which  is 


ELDER   WILLIAM  VAUGHN.  303 

without  works,   and  gave  up  that   salvation  which  is  by 
grace  through  faith. 

It  devolved  on  Smith  to  reply;  for  both  Abernethy 
and  Gates,  who  had  preached  on  Sunday,  refused  to  answer. 
When  he  arose,  Vaughn  took  up  his  hat  to  leave. 

"  Where  are  you  going,  Brother  Vaughn  ? "  said  Smith, 
in  a  loud  voice,  that  fixed  the  attention  of  the  congregatioi 
upon  him.  "  Surely,  you  are  not  going  away." 

"  Yes,"  said  Vaughn, "  I  am  on  my  way  to  the  house." 

"  But,  Brother  Vaughn,  I  am  going  to  reply  to  you ;  you 
will  certainly  stay  and  hear  me." 

"  No,"  persisted  Vaughn,  "  I  must  go." 
*     "  Brother  Billy,"  expostulated  Smith,  "are  you  willing  to 
confess,  by  such  a  course,  that  you  have  taken  positions 
which  you  can  not  maintain  ?  " 

"  Not  at  all,"  said  he ;  "  but  I  can  not  remain." 

"  I  will  give  you  twelve  pistareens,"  urged  Smith,  "  if 
you  will  only  take  a  seat,  and  listen  to  me." 

But  he  would  not  accede  to  the  proposition,  and  seemed 
rather  to  be  annoyed  by  the  importunity  of  Smith,  and  by 
his  apparent  effort. to  construe  his  departure  into  a  flight. 

"  If  you  will  come  back,"  persisted  Smith,  "  I  will  prom- 
ise not  to  expose  more  than  thirteen  of  your  blunders  ;  for 
I  am  satisfied  that  the  people  have,  without  difficulty,  dis- 
covered the  others  for  themselves." 

But  Vaughn  went  on  to  the  house,  where  business, 
doubtless,  called  him.  Just  then  a  note  was  handed  up  to 
Smith  from  the  crowd,  requesting  him  to  make  inquiry  of 
the  people  for  a  certain  dun  colt  that  belonged  to  some 
old  sister  present,  and  which  had  wandered  off  the  day 
before.  He  no  sooner  proclaimed  the  matter  to  the  con- 
gregation, than  a  farmer  of  the  neighborhood  arose,  and 
said  that  the  colt  was  at  his  house,  not  far  off,  safe  and 
sound. 


304  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"  Do  you  believe  it,  my  sister  ? "  asked  Smith,  speaking 
aloud  to  her  from  the  stand.  "  Do  you  believe  what  this 
gentleman  says  about  your  colt  ? " 

"  Certainly  I  do,"  replied  the  lady. 

"  But  do  you  think  that  your  faith  will  ever  bring  that 
colt  back  to  you  ?  Must  you  not  now  go,  or  send  for  it, 
before  you  can  be  benefited  by  your  faith  ? " 

"  Yes,  I  must ! "  she  said. 

"  Now,  friends,  here  you  see  an  illustration  of  the  nature 
of  faith,  and  how  it  is  that,  without  works,  it  is  dead." 

"  There  now ! "  said  an  honest  fellow  in  the  crowd,  loud 
enough  to  be  heard  by  all  around  him,  for  a  new  idea  had 
flashed  into  his  mind,  "if  all  that  Billy  Vaughn  has  said* 
in  two  hours  has  n't  been  kicked  to  pieces  by  a  little  dun 
colt!" 

But  the  good  Elder,  unconscious  of  the  injury  done  to 
his  cause,  by  such  means,  had  already  reached  the  meeting- 
house, and  was  sitting  unconcerned  among  the  pillars  of 
his  church. 

When  the  Association  adjourned,  Smith  set  out  for 
Mayslick,  for  he  had  an  appointment  to  preach  there  the 
next  day.  Elder  Vaughn,  who  really  had  the  kindest  re- 
gard for  him,  and  who,  of  course,  had  refused  to  listen  to 
him  on  Monday  from  no  ill-will,  went  with  him,  to  hear 
him  preach,  and,  if  necessary,  to  reply  to  him  again.  He 
sat  in  the  pulpit  with  him,  with  his  pencil  and  paper  in 
hand. 

"  Write  down  carefully,  now,  Brother  Vaughn,  what  I 
may  say,"  said  Smith,  aloud,  "  for  I  shall  speak  very  can- 
didly to-day." 

Having  concluded,  he  turned  and  said  :  "  You  seem  to 
have  used  your  pencil  but  very  little ;  what  was  the  matter  ? " 

"  I  heard  but  very  little  to  condemn,"  said  Vaughn. 

"  And  yet,"  replied  Smith,  "  I  never  preached  what  you 


POLICY  OF  BRACKEN.  30$ 

call  Campbellism  more  plainly  in  my  life."  For  he  had 
opposed  the  popular  notion  that  the  Spirit  is  given  to  the 
sinner  before  faith,  in  order  to  produce  faith  ;  affirming  that 
God  had  nowhere  promised  the  Spirit  to  any  man  in  dis- 
obedience, or  unbelief. 

The  next  day,  Smith  was  to  preach  at  Bracken,  and  he 
went  home  with  Jesse  Holton,  who  lived  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. Elder  Vaughn  rode  along  with  them  the  greater 
part  of  the  way  ;  for  he,  too,  lived  not  far  from  Bracken, 
and  he  wished  to  have  still  further  conversation  with  his 
reforming  brother. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  that  the  excitement  among 
the  churches  of  Mason  and  Fleming  was  at  that  time  very 
great ;  for  it  was  understood  that  the  policy  of  the  North 
District  Calvinists  would  be  adopted,  and  that  such  churches 
as  were  tainted  with  heresy  would,  after  proper  admoni- 
tion, be  rejected.  Such  a  policy  was,  in  fact,  announced 
afterward  substantially  in  the  following  words  to  the 
churches :  .  •• 

"  Seek  first  to  reclaim  these  reformers  from  their  errors. 
If  your  efforts  should  fail,  invite  them  to  leave  you,  and  to 
practice  their  reformation  to  themselves.  If  they  will  not 
go  at  your  request,  separate  them  from  you  in  the  best 
way  that  you  can." 

All  expected  that  the  work  of  excision  would  soon  begin, 
and  each  party  was  already  laboring  to  get  a  majority  in 
every  church. 

Early  on  Wednesday  morning,  Elder  Vaughn  came  over 
to  Jesse  Holton's,  and  called  for  Smith. 

"  I  have  come,"  said  he,  "  to  talk  with  you  some  more, 
and  to  go  with  you  to  meeting  to-day,  for  I  wish  to  hear 
you  again." 

"  I  am  glad  of  this,  Brother  Billy,"  said  Smith,  "  and  I 
hope  you  will  hear  me  honestly." 
26 


306  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"  I  have  been  studying  much  about  your  new  doctrine," 
said  Vaughn,  "  and  reflecting  especially  on  our  own  main 
position — that  the  Spirit  must  enter  into  the  dead  sinner, 
and  quicken  him,  before  he  can  believe  or  obey." 

"Well,  Brother  Vaughn,  have  you  found  any  promise 
yet  in  the  Gospel  that  the  Spirit  will  be  given  to  any  man 
in  disobedience  ?  I  labored  this  point  at  some  length, 
you  know,  on  yesterday." 

"  Brother  John,"  replied  Vaughn,  in  the  most  unreserved 
manner,  "  I  confess  that  no  promise  of  the  Spirit  is  given 
to  the  sinner  while  living  in  disobedience.  In  fact,  I  can 
see  that  such  a  promise  would  have  been  wrong ;  for  it 
would  have  encouraged  the  sinner  to  abide  in  his  disobe- 
dience." 

"  You  are  certainly  apprised,  Brother  Vaughn,"  said 
Smith,  pleased  with  the  idea  of  making  so  distinguished  a 
convert,  "  that  this  is  giving  up  all  that  we  ask  ?  But  I 
wish  others  to  hear  this."  So,  when  he  had  called  in  the 
family  of  Jesse  Holton,  he  continued : 

"  Now,  Brother  Vaughn,  I  want  you  to  say  here,  before 
these  friends,  what  you  heve  just  said  to  me,  that  there  is 
no  promise  in  the  Book  that  God  will  ever  give  his  Spirit 
to  a  sinner  while  in  disobedience." 

Smith  did  not  see  how  Vaughn  could  admit  so  much 
without  renouncing  his  whole  system  of  religion  ;  but  the 
Elder  had  his  own  way  of  escaping  from  the  dilemma. 

"Yes,"  said  Vaughn,  boldly,  "I  say  that  God  has  no- 
where made  such  a  promise." 

"  And  did  you  not  say,  too,  Brother  Vaughn,  that  such 
a  promise,  if  made,  would  have  encouraged  sinners  to  dis- 
obey ? " 

"  Yes,"  replied  Vaughn,  "  I  said  all  that ;  but,  mark,  I 
did  not  say  that  God  does  not,  nevertheless,  give  his  Spirit 
to  them !  He  has  not  promised  it  to  them,  I  know  ;  but 


BOONE'S    CREEK  IN  fS29.  307 

he  gives  it  notwithstanding.  I  did  not  promise  to  come 
here  to-day,  but  yet  I  came  anyhow." 

Smith  looked  at  him  with  surprise ;  and  then,  in  a  tone 
of  humorous  remonstrance,  replied  : 

"  Billy,  just  look  at  the  attitude  in  which  you  have 
placed  yourself!  You  say  that  God  never  promised  to 
send  his  Spirit  to  sinners,  because  such  a  promise,  if  re- 
vealed, would  have  had  a  bad  effect  upon  them.  Still,  you 
teach  that  God  will  give  his  Spirit  to  them  nevertheless ! 
When  did  God,  who,  you  say,  never  published  such  a 
promise,  make  you  his  confidant  in  this  matter,  and  let 
you  into  his  secret  counsel  ?  And  why  do  you  blab  it  all 
out  to  sinners,  as  you  do,  every  time  you  preach,  when,  as 
you  say,  God  do  n't  want  the  people  to  know  it  ?  Billy," 
said  Smith,  affecting  great  indignation,  "  you  ought  to  be 
killed  outright  for  such  a  breach  of  confidence  ! " 

Smith  preached  at  Bracken,  according  to  appointment ; 
and  on  the  next  day  he  went  to  Minerva,  and  thence  to 
Washington,  and  then,  preaching  through  Fleming  and 
Bath,  he  returned  home  in  time  to  be  at  the  Boone's  Creek 
Association. 

That  Association,  it  will  be  remembered,  was,  in  1828, 
in  favor  of  abolishing  her  Constitution,  but  had  laid  the 
matter  over  for  another  year,  in  order  to  have  the  delib- 
erate voice  of  the  churches.  Accordingly,  in  1829,  at 
Hind's  Creek,  in  Madison  County,  letters  were  read  from 
thirteen  churches,  seven  of  which  voted  to  retain  the  Con- 
stitution, and  six  voted  to  abolish  it.  These  letters, 
though  they  expressed  the  most  conflicting  sentiments  on 
the  subject  of  creeds,  breathed  no  unchristian  spirit. 
The  Circular  Letter  of  that  year  declared  that  the  whole 
correspondence  evinced  that  temper  of  mind  which  the 
Head  of  the  Church  delights  to  behold  in  all  his  disciples. 

The  minority  raised  no  disturbance  on  account  of  their 


308  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

defeat.  They  resolved  to  be  bound  by  no  uninspired 
creed  themselves ;  and  they  were  disposed  to  allow  others 
also  to  do  as  they  pleased.  They  were  not  inclined  to  be 
schismatic,  for  they  desired  to  live  in  peace  with  their 
dissenting  brethren.  So  long,  then,  as  no  attempt  should 
be  made  to  bring  them,  as  Christians,  or  as  churches,  un- 
der subjection  to  a  human  Constitution,  they  would  not 
seek  a  separation  ;  but  they  declared  that  they  would  not 
be  bound  by  any  confession  of  faith  or  rule  of  discipline 
other  than  the  Word  of  God. 

"When  the  sessions  of  the  Associations  for  the  year  1829 
were  over,  John  Smith  turned  his  attention  again  to  the 
churches  of  the  North  District ;  for  the  state  of  affairs  in 
that  community  interested  him  most  deeply.  It  will  not 
be  forgotten  that  David  Chenault  had  declared,  at  Unity, 
that  there  was  but  one  course  left  for  the  faithful  to  pur- 
sue, and  that  was,  to  withdraw  to  themselves.  Accord- 
ingly, not  long  afterward,  in  the  fall  of  1829,  the  clerk, 
James  French,  announced  that  a  meeting  extraordinary 
would  be  held  at  Lulbegrud,  in  April,  for  the  purpose  of 
taking  the  affairs  of  the  District  into  consideration ;  but 
only  such  churches  as  stood  on  Baptist  ground  were  in- 
vited to  be  present !  It  was  by  no  means  the  purpose  of  the 
offended  Calvinists  to  abandon  the  Association;  but,  like 
their  brethren  at  Grassy  Lick,  they  resolved  to  withdraw 
from  the  majority,  and  to  take  with  them  the  books  and 
papers,  the  Constitution,  and  their  name.  In  a  word, 
their  plan  was  to  assume  all  Associational  authority,  and, 
under  the  name  of  a  withdrawal,  to  drop  the  majority  from 
their  communion ! 

There  was  one  man  among  the  many  opponents  of 
Smith  that  seemed  to  comprehend  the  real  issue  between 
the  Reformers  and  their  brethren.  James  French  saw 
that  it  was  more  than  a  question  about  ecclesiastical  creeds 


JAMES  FRENCH.  309 

and  covenants  and  names ;  for  he  knew  that  many  Baptist 
churches  had  been  constituted  on  the  Scriptures  alone, 
and  had  not,  on  that  account,  been  rejected  by  their  breth- 
ren. He  saw  that  the  success  of  the  Reformation  involved 
the  utter  extinction  of  every  sectarian  or  denominational 
Church  in  the  land;  that  the  design  of  Mr.  Campbell 
was  to  re-establish  what  he  called  Apostolic  Christianity, 
from  which,  it  was  alleged,  all  denominations  had  apos- 
tatized. French  felt,  as  every  other  good  man,  that  the 
Baptist  churches  stood  in  need  of  reformation;  but  he 
hoped  that,  when  reformed,  they  would  be  Baptist  churches 
still,  pruned  of  their  faults.  He  saw  that  Mr.  Camp- 
bell's doctrine,  if  carried  out,  would  not  only  reform,  but 
revolutionize,  and  ultimately  destroy,  the  Church  of  his 
fathers;  and,  therefore,  he  persistently  withstood  John 
Smith,  not  as  a  reformer,  but  as  a  revolutionist. 

He  was  a  man  of  great  shrewdness ;  he  had  a  strong, 
but  well-governed,  temper ;  was  thoughtful  and  reticent, 
but  uniformly  polite  in  his  bearing.  He  had  well  studied 
men  and  things,  and  was  not  without  some  knowledge  of 
the  literature  and  the  theology  of  his  day.  He  was,  for  a 
long  time,  a  Magistrate,  or  County  Judge,  and  had  gained 
some  influence  among  the  people.  Usually,  he  carried  a 
point  by  strategy ;  for  he  seldom  stormed  an  obstacle,  or 
openly  quarreled  with  an  enemy.  He  would  quietly  plan, 
while  others  would  almost  unconsciously  carry  out  his 
designs.  Sometimes,  his  purposes  seemed  to  ripen  of 
themselves  into  execution.  He  was,  indeed,  the  wisdom  of 
the  opposition ;  in  a  word,  it  was  James  French,  and  not 
John  Calvin  or  David  Chenault,  that  so  obstinately  with- 
stood John  Smith  in  the  North  District  Association. 

"  We  have  often  been  thrown  in  collision,  Brother  French," 
said  Smith,  when  visiting  him  in  his  last  illness,  long  after 
these  exciting  scenes  were  over,  "but  I  have  no  unpleas- 


310  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SUITE. 

ant  recollections  of  any  thing  you  ever  said  to  injure  or  t< 
wound.  You  talked  but  little;  but  I  used  to  think  that 
you  devised  many  things.  I  do  not  say  this,  now,  to  crim- 
inate you,  in  the  least ;  on  the  contrary,  I  want  you  to 
feel  assured  that  I  have  not  an  unfriendly  feeling  toward 
you  in  the  world." 

In  the  meantime,  Smith,  and  other  leading  Reformers, 
were  anxious  that  the  disciples  should  bring  forth  fruits 
worthy  of  reformation.  Having  pleaded  so  long  for  the 
restoration  of  the  Ancient  Order,  they  felt  that  they  should 
exemplify  it  more  consistently  in  their  practice.  Accord- 
ingly, it  was  agreed  that  religious  meetings  should  be  held 
in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  that  the  brethren 
should  be  urged  to  come  together  for  social  worship  and 
exhortation,  "  without  regard  to  human  rules,  institutions,  or 
commands?  One  of  those  "  three-days'  meetings,"  as  they 
were  called,  was  held  at  Mount  Zion,  in  Clark  County,  in 
the  month  of  October,  1829. 

"I  expected  greater  enjoyment,"  writes  one  who  was 
present,  to  the  Christian  Examiner,  "than  we  commonly 
experience  at  Associations,  and  I  can  assure  you  that  it  ex- 
ceeded my  most  sanguine  expectations. 

"The  peace,  love,  and  harmony  which  prevailed,  both 
in  the  public  assembly  and  in  the  private  circle,  were  truly 
edifying.  If  I  ever  saw  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  manifested 
in  a  large  and  lengthy  meeting,  it  was  at  Mount  Zion. 

"The  remarks  of  Brother  Smith,  on  that  occasion,  upon 
the  Desire  of  a  Union  among  Christians,  were  worthy  of  seri- 
ous' and  faithful  consideration.  He  observed  that  the  dif- 
ferent denominations  of  professed  Christians  were  praying 
for  what  God  could  never  grant,  to-wit :  a  union  upon  each 
of  their  respective  systems  of  opinions.  The  Presbyterian 
prays  for  a  union  with  his  people ;  but  to  know  how  far 


MEETINGS  FOR   WORSHIP.  311 

he  is  willing  to  go  to  effect  this  union,  ask  him  if  he  will 
lay  aside  the  confession  of  opinions  formed  by  the  West- 
minister Assembly.  He  immediately  answers,  '  No  ;  we 
can  not  keep  out  heretics  without  that!'  The  Baptist 
prays  that  all  true  believers  may  be  united  in  faith,  peace, 
and  love.  But  ask  him  if  he  is  willing  to  put  away  the 
Philadelphia  book,  or  the  Terms  of  General  Union,  and  take 
the  Word  of  God  for  his  rule  of  faith  and  practice.  '  O 
no ! '  he  answers,  '  there  can  be  no  union  without  these 
Terms.'  The  same  is  true  of  the  Methodist,  with  his  Dis- 
cipline ;  of  the  Episcopalian,  with  his  Thirty-nine  Articles. 
The  Presbyterian  expects  that,  in  the  millennium,  all  will 
be  Presbyterians,  and  so  with  the  others;  but  God  can 
never  answer  them  in  this  way,  nor  will  he  unite  us  on  any 
plan  but  his  own. 

"  I  congratulate  the  brethren  living  near  Mount  Zion  for 
their  great  advancement  in  the  divine  knowledge  ;  yet  I 
think  there  are  some  things  which  are  necessary  to  their 
further  advancement.  They  are  in  want  of  a  ptirer  speech, 
which  would  be  greatly  assisted,  if,  on  every  Lord's  day, 
they  would  meet  together  in  suitable  and  convenient 
places,  and  carefully  read  and  examine  the  Scriptures. 
They  would  increase  in  knowledge,  love,  and  peace. 

"  The  disciples  of  Jesus  have  been  so  long  priest-ridden 
that  they  do  not  know  their  own  privileges  or  abilities. 
They  have  lost  or  given  up  that  system  which  should  have 
made  them  kings  and  priests  to  God  our  Father ;  and  they 
do  not  know  that  they  can,  and  should,  meet  together  to 
worship  God  and  learn  his  ways  without  a  humanly  consti- 
tuted priest  or  clergyman  at  their  head.  It  seems  as  diffi- 
cult to  convince  the  great  majority  of  the  professed  disci- 
ples of  this  day  that  they  can  meet  and  worship  without 
a  clergyman  in  the  sacred  desk,  as  it  would  have  been,  about 
half  a  century  ago,  to  convince  a  European  that  a  nation 


312  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

could  exist  without  a  king  on  its  throne.  But  the  United 
States  have  fairly  demonstrated  the  absurdity  of  this  hy- 
pothesis ;  and  I  have  strong  reasons  to  believe  that,  before 
half  a  century  to  come,  it  will  be  fully  proved  that  a  con- 
gregation of  believers  in  Jesus  can  walk  together  in  the 
Lord  with  only  a  president  (as  the  early  Christians  were 
wont  to  call  their  Bishop  or  Elder)  chosen  from  among  the 
brethren." 

About  that  time,  also,  the  first  well-authenticated  report 
of  Elder  Vardeman's  defection  reached  John  Smith,  and  he 
felt  so  much  concerned,  that  he  went  to  David's  Fork,  to 
one  of  Vardeman's  regular  meetings,  in  order  to  have  an 
interview  with  him.  After  the  usual  discourse,  Smith 
arose,  and,  referring  to  the  reported  change  in  his  broth- 
er's views,  remarked  to  the  congregation  : 

"  As  I  desire  above  all  things  to  know  what  is  right,  and 
to  do  it,  I  hope  that  Brother  Vardeman  will  tell  me,  and 
this  audience,  what  passage  in  the  Word  of  God  has  con- 
vinced him  that  he  was  wrong.  This  I  beg  him  now  to  do, 
not  only  for  my  sake,  but  for  his  own  good,  and  that  of  the 
people.". 

"You  know,  my  brethren,"  said  Vardeman,  in  reply, 
"  how  much  I  have  always  loved  Brother  Smith,  for  I  have 
long  known  him  to  be  a  good  man,  and  one  that  wants  to 
stand  in  the  truth  of  God.  But  to  do  what  he  now  de- 
sires, would  only  lead  us  into  controversy,  and  I  do  not 
wish  to  dispute  about  doctrinal  matters  with  such  a  man 
as  he." 

Smith  replied  :  "  What  Brother  Vardeman  has  said  only 
makes  it  the  more  imperative  on  him  to  give  me  the  reason 
which  led  him  to  abandon  us.  He  says  7  love  the  truth  ; 
he  must  know,  then,  that  whatever  passage  of  Scripture  con- 
demns me,  I  will,  as  an  honest  lover  of  the  truth,  accept 
with  all  my  heart.  He  says  he  loves  me;  how  then  can 


FRIENDLY   CONTROVERSY.  313 

he  bear  to  see  me  in  the  wrong,  and  not  enlighten  me  ? 
Besides,  he  has  the  promise  that  he  that  turns  a  brother 
from  the  error  of  his  way,  will  save  a  soul  from  death,  and 
hide  a  multitude  of  sins." 

But  Vardeman  said  :  "  I  feel  satisfied,  Brother  Smith, 
that  a  controversy  here  would  do  no  good ;  and  I  will, 
therefore,  proceed  to  dismiss  the  assembly." 

"  If  now  you  do  refuse,"  continued  Smith,  "  to  cite  the 
proof  that  we  are  wrong,  whom  you  so  lately  declared  to  be 
right,  the  people  will  justly  conclude  that  you  have  aban- 
doned us  without  any  scriptural  reason  at  all." 

But  Elder  Vardeman  declined  the  discussion,  and  the 
congregation  was  dismissed.  The  people  became  suspi- 
cious ;  and  perhaps  more  was  immediately  effected  by  this 
bold  but  fruitless  challenge  than  would  have  been  accom- 
plished by  the  most  protracted  controversy. 

27 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

Jacob  Creath,  jr.  and  Elder  Blackburn — Clear  Creek  Church — Contentions — 
The  Creed  Question  — William  Rice — Anti-creed  Party  censured — Creath 
constitutes  them  into  a  Church — Defines  his  position  at  the  Great  Cross- 
ings— Jacob  Creath,  sen.,  still  Calvinistic — Smith  indorses  the  Nephew — 
Preaches  at  the  Crossings — Letter  to  Elder  Henderson. 

JACOB  CREATH,  jr.,  after  an  absence  of  two  years  from 
Kentucky,  was,  on  his  return,  in  December,  1828,  invited 
by  a  portion  of  the  Baptist  church  at  Clear  Creek,  in  Wood- 
ford  County,  to  visit  them  once  a  month,  with  the  under- 
standing that  his  preaching  would  not  interfere  with  the 
regular  worship  of  the  church,  under  her  chosen  pastor, 
George  Blackburn,  an  amiable  man,  and  a  firm  and  prudent 
moderator. 

Clear  Creek,  the  oldest  daughter  of  South  Elkhorn,  was  for 
many  years  one  of  the  most  influential  and  orthodox  Bap- 
tist churches  in  Kentucky.  But  personal  contentions  had 
arisen,  and  roots  of  bitterness  had  sprung  up,  until  some 
of  her  best  members  had  withdrawn  in  order  to  escape  the 
continuous  turmoil.  To  increase  her  distress  the  question 
was  at  length  raised  :  "Are  not  authoritative  human  creeds, 
as  tests  of  fellowship,  contrary  to  the  will  of  God,  and  a 
source  of  discord  among  his  people?"  The  frequent  dis- 
cussion of  that  question,  by  such  men  as  Jacob  Creath,  sen. 
and  William  Morton,  in  1828,  had  given  offense  to  many 
who  were  resolved,  at  all  hazards,  to  stand  by  their  Con- 


CLEAR   CREEK  CHURCH.  315 

sttfution.  The  close  of  the  year  consequently  found  the 
church  not  only  torn  by  personal  jealousies,  but  divided 
on  the  great  question  which  was  then  agitating  so  many 
other  churches  in  the  land. 

Jacob  Creath,  jr.,  at  this  juncture,  accepted  the  call  of 
the  anti-creed  party ;  and  while  George  Blackburn  pleased 
the  majority  of  the  church  by  his  defense  of  the  Confession, 
and  his  patient  exposition  of  its  doctrines,  Jacob  Creath 
delighted  others,  on  the  first  Sunday  in  every  month,  with 
arguments  against  all  ecclesiastical  creeds  and  covenants, 
A  few  impulsive  spirits  helped  to  keep  up  the  strife  be- 
tween the  parties,  until,  at  last,  the  question  was  raised: 
Whether  it  was  good  order  for  a  few  members  to  employ 
a  man  to  preach  statedly  in  the  meeting-house  without 
first  consulting  the  church  ?  The  design  of  this  question 
was  obvious ;  and  the  anti-creed  brethren,  desiring  to  live 
in  peace  with  all  men,  agreed  to  assemble  in  the  woods. 
There  they  worshiped  during  the  summer  months,  though, 
when  winter  came  on,  they  returned  to  the  house. 

It  was  while  they  were  holding  their  assemblies  in  the 
grove  that  they  deeply  wounded  the  feelings  of  the  church, 
and  furnished  the  grounds,  or  the  pretext,  for  which  she 
afterward  withdrew  her  fellowship  from  them.  Clear  Creek 
had  not,  on  account  of  the  dissensions  referred  to,  cele- 
brated the  Lord's  Supper  for  nearly  two  years.  The  anti- 
creed  brethren,  at  peace  among  themselves,  felt  a  strong 
desire  to  observe  the  ordinance.  Accordingly,  at  one  of 
their  monthly  meetings,  with  many  from  Versailles,  and 
other  places,  who  sympathized  with  them,  they  spread  the 
table  in  the  grove,  and  sat  down  together  to  the  sacred 
feast.  But  their  brethren  were  deeply  grieved  at  their 
course ;  some  of  them  declared  that  it  was  an  outlandish 
thing  for  a  mere  faction  to  go  into  the  woods  and  com- 
memorate the  Savior's  death!  At  last,  the  church  took 


3l6  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

the  matter  formally  in  hand,  and,  as  the  offense  was  re- 
peated again  and  again,  they  solemnly  decided  that  such 
conduct  was  disorderly,  and  their  censure  was  put  to  record. 
Jacob  Creath,  sen.,  and  even  John  Taylor,  tried  to  have  the 
decree  reversed,  but  in  vain.  The  condemned  party,  un- 
willing to  abandon  the  table  of  the  Lord,  determined,  as  a 
last  resort,  to  constitute  themselves  into  a  church  of  Christ, 
on  the  Word  of  the  Lord  alone. 

The  younger  Creath  waS'with  John  Smith,  preaching  tu 
the  churches  of  Bath  and  Montgomery,  when  this  resolution 
was  taken ;  but  he  met  with  them  on  the  appointed  day, 
and  helped  to  constitute  them  into  a  church. 

He  had  been  preaching  at  Clear  Creek  but  a  little  while 
when  the  church  at  the  Great  Crossings,  in  Scott  County, 
which  had  formerly  enjoyed  his  teaching,  having  heard 
that  he  had  brought  back  with  him  some  strange  doctrines, 
kindly  requested  him  to  visit  them,  and  give  his  views 
publicly  on  the  subject  of  experimental  religion.  He 
promptly  appeared  before  them,  and  maintained  that  the 
Word,  or  Gospel,  without  any  Divine  influence  superadded, 
was  worthy  of  belief;  that  it  had  power  to  save  all  that 
would  believe  it ;  and  that,  in  order  to  produce  faith,  noth- 
ing more  was  necessary  than  an  honest  attention  to  the 
testimony  of  the  inspired  witnesses. 

The  elder  Creath,  who  was  present,  was  not  at  that  time 
fully  prepared  to  accept  this  teaching.  He  was  inclined 
to  believe  that  the  Holy  Spirit  went  with  the  Word  and 
gave  it  efficacy  to  the  elect,  without  which  they  could  not 
believe  it  to  be  true.*  But  not  long  afterward,  he  met  with 
John  Smith,  and,  during  a  protracted  interview,  the  question 
of  spiritual  influence  was  fully  and  freely  discussed ;  the  po- 
sition of  the  nephew  was  reviewed,  and  the  expediency  of 


*  Autobiography  Jacob  Creath,  jr.,  in  "  Christian  Pioneer." 


JACOB  CREATE,  JR.  317 

his  course  in  declaring  his  views  before  the  people  at  that 
time,  was  considered.  Smith  defended  the  policy  of  the 
younger  Creath,  and  gave  the  doctrine  which  he  had  pro- 
mulgated at  the  Crossings,  his  unqualified  indorsement. 
This  was  a  critical  period  in  the  history  of  the  Reforma- 
tion within  the  bounds  of  the  Elkhorn  Association.  Jacob 
Creath,  sen.,  though  not  fully  satisfied,  yielded  a  general 
assent  to  its  principles ;  and  other  preachers,  emboldened 
or  convinced,  soon  began  to  teach  without  reserve  what 
John  Smith  had  so  fully  indorsed. 

Not  long  after  this,  Smith  himself  visited  the  Crossings, 
and  delivered  a  discourse  on  the  main  points  of  Calvinism, 
which  was  long  remembered  for  its  clearness  and  power. 
The  impression  which  it  made  on  the  minds  of  his  Calvinistic 
hearers,  in  spite  of  prejudice,  was  deep  and  lasting.  Elder 
Thomas  Henderson,  aroused  to  investigation  by  it,  at  once 
began  a  correspondence  with  him  on  the  subject  of  fore- 
knowledge and  election. 

The  following  letter,  which  Smith  addressed  to  him, 
contains  so  much  that  is  characteristic  of  the  temper  and 
the  style  of  its  author,  that  we  give  it  entire,  for  the  sat- 
isfaction of  the  reader: 

MONTGOMERY  COUNTY,  K.Y.,  Nov.  16,  1829. 

DEAR  BROTHER  HENDERSON: — Having  got  through  a  multi- 
plicity of  engagements,  I  now  embrace  the  first  opportunity  of 
attending  to  your  friendly  communication  of  the  2oth  ult.  I 
know  not  when  I  received  a  communication  which  produced  the 
same  kind  of  sensations  in  my  mind. 

I  doubt  not  your  sincerity.  I  think  I  can  fully  enter  into 
your  feelings  and  difficulties  from  my  own  experience.  In  the 
year  1822,  I  had  the  same  thoughts,  the  same  feelings,  the  same 
difficulties  about  the  same  texts  of  Scriptures,  and  indeed  many 
others,  which  you  suggest  in  your  letter.  My  parents  were  Cal- 
vinistic Baptists,  and,  when  I  first  made  a  profession  of  religion, 


3l8  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

all  the  Baptists  in  the  neighborhood  where  I  lived  were  of  that 
sentiment.  Under  that  kind  of  teaching,  I  embraced  the  doc- 
trine of  Election  and  Reprobation  in  the  strongest  terms  in  which 
it  was  expressed  in  their  creeds,  or  covenants,  and  even  the 
doctrine  of  Eternal  Justification.  When  I  began  to  speak  in 
public,  I  preached  it;  having  received  those  opinions  as  true,  I 
strove  with  all  my  power  to  maintain  them.  Not  long  after  I 
found  difficulties  in  the  system  which  I  could  not  reconcile  with 
the  justice,  the  impartiality,  and  the  love  of  God,  and  the  uni- 
versal exhortations  with  which  the  Bible  abounds.  A  friend  and 
brother,  who  lived  fifty  or  sixty  miles  from  me,  ascertained  my 
difficulties,  and  sent  me  Fuller's  "Gospel  Worthy  of  all  Accepta- 
tion"— a  book  which  I  had  never  before  seen.  Some  senti- 
ments, therein  exhibited,  seemed  to  make  the  universal  exhorta- 
tions of  the  Bible  more  consistent  with  what  I  had  been  taught 
to  call  the  "  Doctrine  of  Grace,"  but  I  finally  concluded  that 
if  the  blessings  offered  were  entirely  out  of  the  reach  of  those  to 
whom  they  were  offered,  unless  God  afforded  some  immediate 
or  physical  aids,  the  offer  was  a  perfect  mockery  to  all  those  from 
whom  such  aid  was  withheld.  About  the  years  1821-22,  I  ex- 
pressed my  difficulties  to  several  of  my  friends,  and  determined 
to  search  the  Scriptures  over  again,  and  whatever  I  found  to  be 
the  truth,  I  would  receive  and  teach  at  all  hazards ;  and  if  I 
found  any  error  in  my  former  opinions,  I  would  give  it  up.  The 
result  of  my  inquiries  you  heard  in  part  at  the  Crossings. 

Now,  Brother  Henderson,  I  have  made  the  above  statements, 
that  you  may  see  that  your  difficulties  are  not  yours  only,  and 
that  I  can,  from  my  own  experience,  enter  into  your  feelings. 

Your  difficulty  about  the  foreknowledge  of  God,  I  think, 
must  arise  from  blending  foreknowledge  and  fore-ordination  as 
if  they  were  the  same.  Now,  the  word  foreknowledge  is  found 
in  only  two  places  in  the  Bible  that  I  recollect,  viz.,  Acts  i:  23, 
and  i  Peter  i :  2.  In  the  first  of  these  places,  the  Apostle  was 
speaking  of  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ  for  the  benefit 
of  the  world,  and  he  brings  to  view  that  which  God  by  the 
mouth  of  the  prophets  had  said  long  before  it  came  to  pass;  that 


ELECTION  AND  REPROBATION.  319 

it  had  now  ta.ken  place  according  to  those  predictions,  and  in 
this  way  introduced  the  words  foreknowledge,  etc.  In  the  latter, 
the  Apostle  is  explaining  the  means  by  which  God  had  elected 
those  to  whom  he  wrote,  to  eternal  life,  viz.:  "through  sanctifi- 
cation  of  the  Spirit,"  etc.,  for  the  Spirit  was  promised  to  them 
that  believed.  The  fore-ordination  of  God,  as  set  forth  in  the 
Scriptures,  is  joyful  to  think  of.  In  i  Peter  i :  20,  we  learn  that 
Christ  was  fore -ordained  for  the  salvation  of  sinners.  In  a  word, 
all  things  that  we  read  of  God's  fore-ordaining  are  for  the  good 
of  mankind.  Now  it  is  certain  that  God  foreknew  all  the  evil 
as  well  as  the  good ;  and,  if  foreknowledge  is  equivalent  to  fore- 
ordination,  it  follows,  that  all  the  sins  and  abominations  that 
have  ever  cursed,  or  ever  will  curse,  the  world  with  wretched- 
ness and  ruin,  were  fore-ordained  of  God ;  and  if  God  fore-or- 
dained nothing  contrary  to  his  will,  then  it  follows  that  the  liar, 
the  thief,  and  the  murderer  do  the  will  of  God  as  perfectly  as 
the  most  virtuous  and  pious.  It  is  a  fact,  which  should  never  be 
overlooked,  that  the  Bible  nowhere  teaches  that  the  foreknowl- 
edge of  God  ever  was  or  ever  will  be  the  immediate  cause  of  any 
body's  being  justified  or  condemned.  Neither  is  the  foreknowl- 
edge of  God.  spoken  of  as  the  cause  why  any  body  will  be  ad- 
mitted to  Heaven  or  cast  into  hell  at  the  last  day.  But  I  rejoice 
in  contemplating  the  wisdom,  the  knowledge,  and  the  counsel  of 
God  in  devising,  executing,  and  adapting  his  way  of  salvation  to 
the  condition  of  such  sinners  as  we  are.  Now,  Brother  Hender- 
son, that  the  doctrine  of  Election  and  Reprobation  is  a  Bible  doc- 
trine, I  have  never  doubted ;  but  I  do  deny  said  doctrine  as  set 
forth  in  our  Calvinistic  creeds,  and  by  our  Calvinistic  preachers 
from  the  pulpit.  But  the  limits  of  a  letter  will  not  admit  of  en- 
tering fully  into  the  merits  of  this  subject.  I  shall,  therefore, 
just  glance  a  little  at  the  texts  to  which  you  referred  in  your  let- 
ter, firmly  believing  that  no  fair  constniction  can  place  them  at 
variance  with  my  views  on  the  subject  of  faith,  as  I  explained  at 
the  Crossings. 

That  the  text  in  John  xv:  16,  has  special  reference  to  the  Apos- 
tles, I  have  no  doubt,  and  the  fifteenth  and  twenty-seventh  verses 


32O  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

of  the  same  chapter,  with  many  others,  prove  it.  There  you 
will  see  that  things  are  said  of  them  which  can  not,  with  propri- 
ety, apply  to  any  other  persons  from  that  time  to  this ;  in  a  word, 
that  certain  men  were  personally,  and,  according  to  the  sover- 
eign pleasure  of  God,  elected  to  certain  offices  for  the  benefit  of 
the  world,  is  a  joyful  truth.  So  it  was  with  these  men,  the  apos- 
tles ;  they  were  his  special  witnesses.  So  far  from  others  being 
reprobated  to  eternal  death,  when  they  were  chosen  to  be  apos- 
tles, they  were,  by  virtue  of  that  choice,  to  be  for  salvation  to  the 
ends  of  the  world,  (Acts  xiii :  47).  So  I  understand  in  the  passage 
in  Ephesians.  If  the  us  and  we  spoken  of  from  the  first  to  the 
twelfth  verse,  includes  all  who  are  elected  to  eternal  life,  who 
are  those  alluded  to  in  the  thirteenth  verse?  The  us  and  we 
first  trusted  in  Christ.  T,he  ye,  Gentile  believers,  also  trusted 
in  him,  ' '  after  they  heard  the  word  of  truth. "  As  to  the  pas- 
sages referred  to  in  Romans — that  it  was  a  national  election  is 
evident  from  the  following  facts  and  Scriptures,  unless  it  be  where 
the  Apostle  has  reference  to  character : 

1.  It  does  not  appear  from  the  Bible  that  it  ever  was  the  de- 
sign of  God,  in  making  a  revelation  of  himself,  and  of  his  love 
to  mankind,  to  reveal  the  awful  fact  to  a  mother,  that,  before 
her  child  was  born,  or  had  done  good  or  evil,  it  was  reprobated 
to  eternal  wrath.     What   must    have   been    the    feelings  of  a 
mother  who  loved  God,  and  what  the  effects  of  such  a  revela- 
tion, would  be  hard  to  tell.     Perhaps  Christian  mothers  form 
the  best  or  most  correct  idea. 

2.  Esau  never  did  serve  Jacob  in  his  own  person.     But  God 
did  defend  the  tribes  of  Jacob,  and  he  did  lay  waste  the  heri- 
tage of  Esau,  *'.  e.,  Esau's  tribe  for  the  dragons  of  the  wilder- 
ness.    The  following  are  a  few  of  the  many  passages  to  prove, 
without   doubt,   the   above-stated   proposition :    Genesis  xxvi : 
22,23;  Mai.  i:  2-6;  Jer.  xviii :  i-n.     These  Scriptures,  and 
many  others,  are  quoted  by  Paul,  in  Rom.  ix ;  and  go  to  show 
plainly  that  the  eternal  salvation  of  Jacob  and  the  reprobation 
of  Esau  as  individuals,  was  not  the  object  in  view.     The  char- 
acters spoken  of  in  Rom.  viii :  29,  30,  were  all  justified,  etc.,  at 


ELECTION  AND  REPROBATION.  $21 

the  time  that  Paul  wrote  this  letter ;  for  it  is  spoken  in  the  past 
tense,  and,  therefore,  can  have  no  allusion  to  you  or  me  any 
further  than  we  sustain  a  similar  character.  That  Ezekiel's  vis- 
ion of  the  dry  bones  had  no  direct  allusion  to  the  conversion  of 
a  sinner  under  the  Gospel,  is  evident  from  the  connection  in 
which  it  stands.  When  we  attend  to  the  thirty-sixth  and  thirty- 
seventh  chapters  of  Ezekiel's  prophecy,  and  hear  Israel  as  a  na- 
tion spoken  of— the  land  which  the  Lord  gave  their  fathers — 
the  cause  of  their  dispersion — their  being  divided  into  two 
kingdoms — their  complaints,  "our  bones  are  dried,"  etc. — the 
Lord  showing  how  they  should  be  united — how  they  should  be 
cleansed — promising  to  restore  them  to  the  land  of  Israel — that 
they  should  be  no  more  two  kingdoms — that  there  should  be 
one  king  over  them,  even  David — and  that  these  bones  were 
the  whole  house  of  Israel ; — I  say,  when  we  see  all  these  things 
in  the  context,  which  so  plainly  show  the  meaning  of  the 
prophet,  is  it  not  evident  that  the  direct  allusion  was  to  the  de- 
liverance of  Israel  from  captivity,  and  restoration  of  them  to 
their  own  land,  and  not  the  state  of  sinners,  or  their  conversion 
to  Christianity  under  the  light  of  the  Gospel  ?  Might  we  not 
as  well  say  that  the  sprinkling  and  cleansing,  spoken  of  in  the 
same  connection,  has  a  direct  allusion  to  baptism  under  the 
Gospel  ?  A  word  to  the  wise  is  sufficient. 

I  had  nearly  forgotten  the  saying  in  John  xiv :  16,  17.  Here 
let  it  be  noted  that  the  unbelievers  are  all  considered  world- 
lings. Believers  are  not  of  the  world,  and  whether  you  would 
consider  that  miraculous  gifts  were  intended  or  not,  it  is  plain 
that  the  unbelievers  or  worldlings  could  not  receive  them. 
Now,  if  unbelievers  can  not  receive  the  Spirit,  how  can  they  be 
regenerated  by  the  Spirit  before  they  be.lieve  ?  Read  John  viii : 
38,  39;  and  there  you  will  see  the  matter  made  plain.  Then  you 
may  understand  why  it  was  that  faith  or  repentance  was  the  first 
thing  urged  upon  the  world  by  all  the  preachers  of  the  Gospel, 
from  John  the  Dipper  to  the  end  of  the  apostolic  age.  You 
will  also  see  why  it  was  that  none  of  them  ever  preached  the 
Spirit  to  unbelievers,  but  preached  Jesus,  that  they  might  receive 


322  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

the  Spirit  by  faith  in  him.  There  is  no  promise,  no  account 
of  any  body's  receiving  Jesus  by  faith  in  the  Spirit ;  but  there  is 
a  promise  of  receiving  the  Spirit  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  A 
few  remarks  more,  and  I  will  close  this  letter. 

When  God  intended  to  send  a  message  to  men,  of  which  the 
world  had  never  heard  before,  he  did,  of  his  own  sovereign 
pleasure,  elect  men  without  consulting  them,  without  asking 
their  consent,  and  sometimes  before  they  were  born.  This  was 
the  case  with  Jeremiah  (see  Jer.  i:  5),  John  the  Dipper,  and 
others.  Indeed,  while  God  was  making  a  revelation  of  himself 
and  his  will  to  the  world,  I  have  no  doubt  but  all  those  instru- 
ments employed  in  making  such  a  revelation  of  new  things, 
were  thus  elected  and  called,  even  from  the  calling  of  Abraham 
in  the  land  of  Haran,  to  the  calling  of  Saul  between  Jerusalem 
and  Damascus.  In  fact,  no  man  had  any  right  to  fill,  neither 
could  any  man  fill,  such  an  office,  or  perform  such  a  work,  unless 
he  was  thus  elected  and  called.  But  this  is  quite  different  from 
talking  about  things  after  they  have  been  revealed ;  for  then 
they  become  common  property,  and  we  may  obey  or  disobey, 
and  receive  or  renounce  accordingly.  And  is  it  not  strange 
that  any  person  should  ever  think  that  some  are  elected  and 
called  to  obey  the  Gospel  and  enjoy  everlasting  life,  and  others 
rejected  in  the  same  way  that  those  men  were  elected  and  called 
to  fill  their  respective  'offices,  and  others  rejected  from  said 
offices  ? 

Now,  Brother  Henderson,  without  the  least  thought  of  vain 
speculation,  I  have  suggested  some  thoughts  on  topics  of  great 
importance.  I  hope  you  will  examine  them  impartially,  and  let 
me  hear  from  you  again  as  soon  as  convenient.  And,  believe 
me,  your  sincere  friend  and  brother  in  Christ, 

JOHN  SMITH. 

Elder  THOS.  HENDERSON. 


PREACHES  AT  CLEAR   CREEK. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

Smith  at  Clear  Creek — John  Taylor — Dead  Sinner  sneezes — Taylor  gives  hfs 
hand  to  Smith — Smith  at  Hillsborough — Published  as  a  Clerical  House- 
breaker—  Spends  a  night  with  Vardeman — Their  Conversation  —  Smith 
charged  with  Defection — Repels  the  Charge — The  Beaver  Decrees — In- 
dorsed by  the  Franklin  Association — Imposed  on  South  Benson — Great 
Dissatisfaction — Creath  and  Hewitt  go  to  the  rescue — John  Brown — Efforts 
at  reconciliation  fail — A  Church  of  Christ  organized. 

IT  was  not  long  till  John  Smith,  after  due  notice  given, 
appeared  among  th'e  divided  brethren  of  Clear  Creek.  When 
he  reached  the  neighborhood,  John  Taylor  came  to  him  and 
informed  him  that  the  regularly-constituted  church  had  de- 
termined to  occupy  the  meeting-house  next  day  themselves. 
"And  now,"  said  he,  "what,  under  the  circumstances,  do 
you  propose  to  do  ? " 

"  Brother  Taylor,"  said  he,  "  I  propose  to  let  you  all  alone. 
Do  you  meet  in  the  house,  and  I  will  go  to  the  woods." 

But  Taylor  called  again  early  the  next  morning,  and  said 
to  him  that  they  had  decided  to  let  him  preach  in  the  house, 

agreeably  to  his  appointment,  but  that  Elder must 

speak  first,  Smith  might  follow,  and  he  himself  would  de- 
liver the  closing  address ;  each  speaker,  however,  would  be 
limited  to  one  hour. 

"  I  care  nothing  for  the  other  discourses,"  said  Smith ; 
"  and  it  is  a  matter  of  indifference  to  me  who  speaks  first 
or  last,  but  I  will  not  consent  to  be  limited  in  time." 


324  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Taylor  finally  agreed  to  give  him  what  time  he  might 
wish,  and  then  went  away.  Jacob  Creath,  sen.,  who  was 
present,  was  much  concerned  that  Smith  had  thus  put  him- 
self in  the  power  of  his  enemies. 

"  Brother  John,"  said  he,  "  your  discourse  will  be  torn  to 
pieces  by  Elder  Taylor ;  and  he  has  so  arranged  it  that  you 
can  not  reply  to  him,  or  defend  yourself." 

The  conflicting  appointments  had  brought  many  to- 
gether, and  they  were  all  curious  to  see  how  Smith  would 
meet  the  opposition  that  had  been  so  unexpectedly  con- 
centrated against  him.  When  the  hour  came,  Elder 

arose  and  read  his  text:  "  Is  it  well  with  thee?  is  it  well 
with  thy  husband?  is  it  well  with  the  child  ?" — 2  Kings  iv:  26. 

The  dead  child  was  made  to  represent  the  sinner,  dead 
in  trespasses  and  sins ;  the  prophet  was  Christ ;  and  the 
staff  was  the  preacher.  The  prophet  first  sent  his  staff  to 
give  life  to  the  child ;  but  it  could  do  no  good :  so  Christ 
first  sends  the  preacher  to  the  sinner,  who  tries  in  vain  to 
save  him.  Finally,  Christ  goes  himself,  as  did  the  prophet 
of  old,  and  he  puts  his  eyes  to  the  sinner's  eyes,  and  his 
mouth  to  the  sinner's  mouth,  and  his  hands  upon  the  sin- 
ner's hands ;  and  he  stretches  himself  down  upon  the  sin- 
ner, till  the  dead  one  sneezes,  and  opens  his  eyes. 

"  Brother  John,"  said  Creath,  softly,  for  they  sat  to- 
gether in  the  pulpit  behind  the  speaker,  "do  you  think 
that  you  can  carry  the  flag  safe  through  all  that  ? " 

But  Smith  was  unabashed.  When  his  time1  came,  he 
arose  and  read  the  third  chapter  of  Paul's  letter  to  the 
Philippians.  He  made  no  allusion  to  the  allegory  of  the 
staff  and  the  prophet,  nor  any  criticism  on  the  doctrine 
which  the  speaker  had  extracted  from  the  story  of  the 
Shunamite's  son ;  but  he  noticed,  in  complimentary  terms, 
the  exhortation  with  which  he  had  closed  his  performance, 
for  he  had,  in  concluding,  said  many  good  things.  Smith's 


AT  HILLSBOROUGH.  325 

eye,  while  speaking,  was  on  him  who  was  to  follow.  When 
he  sat  down,  Taylor  arose,  and,  alluding  to  the  chapter 
which  had  been  read,  remarked,  in  conclusion : 

"  My  brother  has  preached  to  us  to-day  from  twenty-one 
texts  of  Scripture,  and  yet  I  can  not  object  to  any  thing 
that  he  has  said !  I  do  n't  believe,  after  all,  brethren,  that 
John  Smith  is  so  bad  a  man  as  we  have  heard.  All  that 
he  has  said  to-day  I  can  heartily  indorse,  and  I  now  give 
him  my  hand ; "  and  with  these  words  he  walked  down  from 
the  pulpit.  But  an  old  Calvinistic  elder,  who  was  present, 
cried  out  at  this,  for  his  zeal  for  good  order  and  orthodoxy 
had  almost  consumed  him :  "  Brother  Taylor,  if  you  give 
your  hand  in  that  way  to  a  Campbellite,  we  never  want  you 
to  come  into  Clear  Creek  meeting-house  again ! "  But  the 
hand  was  given,  and  Taylor  went  in  and  out  at  Clear  Creek 
as  before ;  nor  were  the  doors  ever  closed  even  against  John 
Smith  from  that  day. 

Not  long  after  this,  Smith,  informed  by  a  notice  in  the 
public  papers  that  the  friends  of  the  Reformation,  under 
the  name  of  Baptist  Reformers ,  "  would  hold  a  three-days' 
meeting  at  Clear  Creek,  similar  to  that  which  had  been 
held  at  Mount  Zion,"  returned  to  the  neighborhood,  and, 
with  the  Creaths  and  others,  labored  to  remove  still  further 
the  prejudices  of  that  community  against  the  "Ancient 
Gospel,"  and  to  confirm  those  who,  through  much  evil  re- 
port, were  struggling  to  be  free  from  the  bondage  of  hu- 
man authority.  While  at  Clear  Creek,  he  sent  over  a  writ- 
ten notice  to  Elder  George  Waller,  who  was  then  at  Hills- 
borough,  a  church  about  six  miles  distant,  saying  that  he 
would  preach  at  that  place  on  the  following  Wednesday; 
and  he  requested  the  Elder  to  make  the  announcement 
from  his  pulpit  on  Sunday. 

Waller  received  the  note,  but  neglected  to  read  it  to  the 
people.  Nevertheless,  when  Smith  arrived  at  the  spot,  he 


326  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

saw  a  large  congregation  assembled  in  the  yard ;  for  the 
house  had  been  shut  and  locked  against  them.  A  winter 
rain  had  recently  fallen,  and  women,  anxious  to  hear  the 
strong  man  preach,  were  standing  patiently  on  the  cold, 
wet  ground.  Smith,  no  little  embarrassed,  turned  aside  to 
a  spring  not  far  off,  and  having  revolved  the  matter  in  his 
mind,  determined  that,  as  the  house  had  been  closed  against 
him,  he  would  preach  to  the  people  in  the  woods,  if  they 
would  stay  and  hear  him.  But  in  the  meantime,  a  young 
man  of  the  neighborhood,  a  stranger  to  Smith,  but  a  friend 
to  Elder  Waller,  came  upon  the  ground,  and  seeing  the 
ladies  standing  without,  immediately  rode  up  to  a  window, 
and,  having  opened  it  from  the  back  of  his  horse,  climbed 
in,  and,  unlocking  the  door,  admitted  the  people. 

Smith  saw  them  crowding  in,  and  he  expressed,  to  cer- 
tain brethren  who  were  with  hi-m,  his  mortification  and 
regret  that  the  door  had  been  forced  open ;  and  he  de- 
clared that  even  now  he  would  preach  in  the  woods.  But 
learning  how  the  house  had  been  opened — that  it  had  not 
been  done  violently,  nor  by  any  of  his  own  brethren — he 
at  last  consented,  though  reluctantly,  to  go  in  .and  speak 
to  the  congregation. 

It  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  spirit  of  the  times  to  relate 
that  after  he  had  returned  home,  he  was  published  through- 
out the  land,  in  a  leading  religious  journal,  as  a  clerical 
housebreaker  ! 

"  On  Wednesday  morning,  after  Christmas,"  says  some 
writer  in  the  Baptist  Chronicle,  a  paper  published  at  that 
time  in  Georgetown,  Ky.,  "John  Smith,  to  whom  the 
meeting-house  had  already  been  publicly  refused,  came  on 
to  Hillsborough,  nevertheless,  with  Jacob  Creath  and  others, 
and  found,  of  course,  every  door  and  window  closed  against 
them.  But  they  were  not  to  be  thus  foiled.  A  wicked 
young  man,  in  their  presence,  and  under  their  auspices, 


JEREMIAH   VARDEMAN.  $2? 

and,  as  we  understand,  encouraged  by  John  Smith,  who 
proffered  to  indemnify  him  if  he  should  be  sued,  proceeded 
to  break  open  one  of  the  windows,  enter  the  house,  and 
open  the  doors.  We  state  these  facts  with  little  comment ; 
but  we  believe  that  a  similar  outrage  can  not  be  found  in 
the  history  of  the  Reformation.  Let  an  intelligent  com- 
munity say  whether  such  men  are  to  be  countenanced 
and  encouraged." 

On  his  way  home  from  Hillsborough,  Smith  stopped  at 
the  house  of  Jeremiah  Vardeman  to  pass  the  night,  for  he 
was  still  anxious  to  learn  the  real  views  of  his  friend,  who 
was  now  certainly  preaching  again  those  things  which  he 
had  once  labored  to  destroy.  Smith  again  asked  for  some 
feason  for  the  course  he  had  taken  ;  but  his  host  tried 
persistently,  though  pleasantly,  to  waive  all  discussion,  say- 
ing that  he  would  not  be  drawn  into  controversy  with  a 
brother  whom  he  so  much  loved. 

"Should  Brother  Campbell's  views  prevail,  however," 
said  Vardeman,  in  the  course  of  the  evening,  "one  result 
will  inevitably  follow :  the  ministry  will  be  put  down." 

"  But  we  profess  to  be  governed  by  the  Scriptures,"  re- 
plied Smith,  "and  we  should  be  willing,  if  we  are  wrong, 
to  be  put  down  by  the  Scriptures.  Where,  then,  is  the 
proof  that  we  are  in  error  ? " 

"  Brother  Smith,"  said  Vardeman,  evasively,  "you  know 
how  stingy  the  Baptists  already  are  toward  their  preachers. 
But  you  will  now  get  nothing  at  all  for  your  preaching ; 
you  must  all  starve." 

"  Still,  you  give  me  no  proof  that  I  am  in  error.  Men 
have  been  martyred  for  the  truth  in  times  past ;  and,  for 
one,  Brother  Vardeman,  I  would  rather  starve  for  its  sake, 
now,  than  to  fatten  on  error,  though  I  should  get  to  be 
like  the  man's  buck  that  cut  two  inches  on  the  shin-bone. 
But  you  do  much  mistake  Brother  Campbell's -views ;  his 


328  LIFE  OF  ELDER   JOHN  SMITH. 

object  is  to  establish  a  Gospel  ministry,  in  opposition  to  the 
hireling  priesthood  of  the  day" 

They  had  much  friendly  conversation  together,  and  in 
many  things  they  were  still  agreed,  particularly  in  con- 
demning authoritative  human  creeds,  and  the  severer  points 
of  Calvinism.  Not  long  after  this  visit,  it  was  reported  that 
Smith  had  abandoned  the  principles  of  the  Reformation,  and 
that,  at  the  house  of  Elder  Vardeman,  he  had  confessed  that 
he  had  been  in  error.  His  brethren  informed  him  that  such 
a  report  was  current,  and  begged  him  to  correct  it.  About 
the  same  time,  he  received  a  letter  from  the  editors  of  the 
Christian  Examiner,  a  paper  then  published  in  Lexington, 
who  assured  him  that  the  report  was  doing  much  damage  to 
the  cause.  Averse,  as  he  always  was,  to  taking  any  notice 
of  the  evil  things  that  were  said  about  him,  he  determined 
to  correct  this  mistake,  not,  however,  on  his  own  account, 
but  for  the  sake  of  the  cause  which  he  loved  more  than 
he  loved  himself.  He  accordingly  addressed  the  following 
letter  to  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Examiner: 

MOUNT  STERLING,  KT.,  April  I,   1830. 

BROTHER  NORWOOD  : — I  have  several  times  been  informed 
that  there  is  a  report  in  circulation  in  Lexington  and  its  vicin- 
ity— but  how  it  got  there,  or  how  it  originated,  I  know  not — 
that  when  I  spent  a  night  with  Brother  Jeremiah  Vardeman,  on 
my  way  home  from  my  last  visit  to  Frankfort,  in  a  conversation 
between  Brother  Vardeman  and  myself,  I  gave  up  every  point  that 
we  discussed,  and  agreed  to  every  thing  which  Brother  Vardeman 
contended  for.  This  is  substantially  the  report  as  I  heard  it.  At 
first  I  paid  little  or  no  attention  to  it,  believing  that  no  honest 
man  present  at  that  conversation  would  make  such  a  statement, 
and  that  the  report  would  consequently  die  of  itself;  but  hear- 
ing it  so  often  repeated,  I  think  proper  to  send  you  the  follow- 
ing statement ;  and,  if  you  think  circumstances  require  it,  you 
are  at  liberty  to  give  it  a  place  in  your  paper ;  if  not,  you  can 


LETTER.  329 

do  what  you  please  with  it,  without  fear  of  embarrassing  my 
feelings : 

On  the  evening  of  the  seventh  of  January  last,  I  called,  in 
company  with  three  other  brethren,  upon  Brother  Vardeman, 
and  stayed  all  night.  Much  friendly  conversation  passed  between 
us.  Many  things  were  named,  in  which  we  both  agreed.  But 
I  do  assert  that  I  did  not  give  up  any  sentiment  that  I  ever  con- 
tended for,  either  then  or  at  any  other  time,  since  I  have  re- 
nounced human  systems  and  the  traditions  of  men  for  pure  Chris- 
tianity. You  will  know  that  the  principal  grounds  on  which 
our  Baptist  brethren  differ  from  us,  especially  those  of  the  lib- 
eral sentiments  of  Brother  Vardeman,  are  our  views  of  the  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  salvation  of  men,  the  call  to  the  min- 
istry, human  creeds,  and  the  necessity  of  reformation.  These 
four  topics,  I  well  recollect,  were  all  spoken  of  by  him  and  my- 
self that  night,  and  I  am  sure  that  Brother  Vardeman  will  never 
say  to  me  that  I  yielded  one  iota  of  my  views  on  those  points, 
but  that  its  origin  is  with  those  who  adopt  the  Quixotic  notion 
of  many  of  our  would-be  champions  of  the  present  day,  who 
boast  of  victory  where  none  was  gained,  behind  the  backs  of 
those  they  fear  to  face  in  argument. 

I  do  not  recollect  whether  we  said  any  thing  about  the 
Law  or  not — that  is,  whether  people  in  this  age  of  the  world 
are  under  Moses  or  under  Christ.  If  it  was  mentioned,  I  am 
equally  sure  that  he  will  say  that  I  yielded  nothing  of  my  views 
on  that  topic.  I  heard  neither  reason  nor  Scripture  proof  suffi- 
cient to  convince  me  of  error,  or  even  to  make  me  doubt  that  I 
was  right ;  and,  therefore,  could  not  have  changed  or  given  up 
my  views,  either  in  whole  or  in  part.  I  am  happy  to  say,  that 
in  our  conversation  about  creeds,  Brother  Vardeman  did  not 
attempt  to  defend  them,  but  rather  joined  in  condemning  them. 
We  both  agreed  in  condemning  the  strong  features  of  Calvin- 
ism, etc. 

In  relation  to  my  views  of  the  Gospel,  which  I  have  labored 
to  defend  for  several  years  past,  if  you  hear  any  man  say  that  I 
have  denied  or  given  up  any  of  them,  tell  him  to  set  his  time, 
28 


330  LIFE  OF  ELDER   JOHN  SMITH. 

and  write  me  word,  and  I  will  come  to  Lexington  at  any  time, 
to  hear  him  attempt  to  prove  it;  for  assertion  without  proof  is 
not  current.  At  the  same  time,  be  it  remembered,  that  I  am 
open  to  conviction ;  and  that,  should  I,  at  any  time,  be  con- 
vinced by  the  word  of  truth,  of  any  error  that  I  may  be  in,  I 
will  give  it  up,  and  confess  it  as  publicly  as  I  ever  promul- 
gated it. 

Respectfully,  your  brother,  in  the  kingdom  and  patience  of 
Christ,  JOHN  SMITH. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Alexander  Campbell,  in  with- 
drawing from  the  Redstone  Association,  with  which  he  had 
first  stood  connected,  joined  the  Mahoning  Association  of 
Ohio.  Through  his  influence,  mainly,  the  last  vestige  of 
what  was  called  sectarianism  soon  disappeared  from  Mahon- 
ing, so  that  in  August,  1829,  she  was  rejected  by  the  Bea- 
ver Association  of  Pennsylvania,  and  perhaps  by  other 
communities  of  Baptists,  on  the  ground  that  she  had  de- 
parted from  the  faith  and  order  of  the  Gospel  church.  A 
copy  of  the  Beaver  resolutions  was  soon  forwarded  to 
Frankfort,  Kentucky,  and  the  church  at  that  place,  in 
charge  of  Silas  M.  Noel,  immediately  sent  up  a  request  to 
the  Franklin  Association,  which  was  about  to  convene  at  the 
Forks-of-Elkhorn  meeting-house,  in  Woodford  County,  that 
the  charges  of  Beaver  against  the  Reformers  should  be  in- 
dorsed and  published  by  the  Association.  Franklin,  after 
due  consideration,  not  only  complied  with  that  request,  but 
advised  all  the  churches  in  her  connection  to  discounte- 
nance the  several  errors  and  corruptions  for  which  Mahon- 
ing had  already  suffered  excision. 

Those  Errors  and  Corruptions  were  set  forth  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms  : 

1.  They,  the  Reformers,  maintain  that  there  is  no  promise  of 
salvation  without  baptism  ; 

2.  That  baptism  should  be  administered  to  all  who  say  they 


ERRORS  AND   CORRUPTIONS.  331 

believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God,  without  examina- 
tion on  any  other  point ; 

3.  That  there  is  no  direct  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the 
mind  prior  to  baptism  ; 

4.  That  baptism  procures  the  remission  of  sins  and  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Spirit; 

5.  That  the  Scriptures  are  the  only  evidence  of  interest  in 
Christ ; 

6.  That  obedience  places  it  in  God's  power  to  elect  to  sal- 
vation ; 

7.  That  no  creed  is  necessary  for  the  church  but  the  Scrip- 
tures as  they  stand ;  and 

8.  That  all  baptized  persons  have  the  right  to  administer  the 
ordinance  of  Baptism,    t^tf^J^^-    \\A~~t*A*4A  OL/L  V 

Not  long  after  the  publication  of  these  charges,  by  the 
Franklin  Association,  it  was  rumored  that  an  attempt 
would  be  made  to  spread  them  upon  the  Record  Book  of 
South  Benson,  the  oldest  and  largest  church  in  that  con- 
nection. 

John  Smith,  in  his  travels  through  the  country  in  the 
winter  and  spring  of  1829,  had  visited  that  congregation,  as 
we  have  related,  in  company  with  Doctor  Noel,  then  widely 
differing  from  him  in  religious  sentiments.  On  that  occa- 
sion, he  did  not  hesitate  to  declare  that  the  Church  of 
Christ  ought  to  have  no  other  constitution  than  the  Word 
of  God,  and  that  opinions  could  not  be  the  proper  founda- 
tion of  a  Christian  Church,  nor  the  bond  of  a  Christian 
brotherhood.  The  Creaths  also  had  visited  South  Benson 
frequently  during  the  same  year,  and  preached  the  same 
doctrine ;  so  that  many  of  her  members  were  now  ready 
to  surrender  their  creed,  and  lay  aside  their  denominational 
name. 

When,  therefore,  these  anti-creed  brethren  of  South 
Benson  heard  that  the  Beaver  Resolutions  were  to  be 
brought  up  for  adoption  at  the  meeting  of  the  church  in 


332  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

November,  they  took  alarm,  and  sent  for  Jacob  Creath, 
sen.,  and  Josephus  Hewett,  a  young  man  of  much  prom- 
ise, who  had  recently  been  ordained  to  the  ministry  ;  they 
were  both  still  members  of  the  Baptist  church  at  Versailles. 
The  bill  of  heresies  was,  at  the  time  proposed,  brought  up 
for  condemnation.  The  day  was  inclement,  so  that  only 
about  seventy-five,  out  of  a  church  of  three  hundred  mem- 
bers, were  present. 

Discussion,  it  appears,  was  confined  mainly  to  the  sev- 
enth item,  involving  the  sufficiency  of  the  Scriptures  as 
the  creed  of  the  church,  and  it  was  carried  on  with  much 
animation,  chiefly  by  George  Waller  and  Jacob  Creath. 
The  day  was  consumed  in  debate,  and,  when  the  vote  was 
taken,  at  dark,  it  was  found  that  forty  were  of  the  opinion 
that  the  Scriptures  as  they  stand  were  sufficient,  while 
thirty-three  still  maintained  that  a  human  creed  also  was 
necessary,  for  the  constitution  and  government  of  the 
church.  At  the  next  monthly  meeting,  which  was  in  De- 
cember, the  church  reconsidered  the  question,  and  Doctor 
Noel,  the  champion  of  the  creed  party,  by  his  personal 
influence  and  address,  succeeded  in  reversing  the  former 
decision,  although  John  Brown,  an  unordained  member, 
eloquently  maintained  that  the  Scriptures  alone  should  be 
the  creed  of  Christians.  The  creed  party  having  thus 
triumphed,  caused  this  item  of  error  and  corruption  to  be 
entered  on  record  along  with  the  others. 

Such  a  record  was  painfully  offensive  to  the  anti-creed 
party,  and  they  resolved  that  at  the  next  meeting  of  the 
church,  which  would  be  in  January,  they,  in  turn,  would 
have  the  whole  question  discussed  again  ;  and  they  invited 
Jacob  Creath,  sen.,  and  his  nephew,  to  be  present.  The 
meeting  came  on,  and  Silas  M.  Noel  and  George  Waller 
were  there  to  sustain  the  recent  action  of  the  church. 
Their  brethren  urged  every  argument,  and  used  every  art 


CHURCH  OF  CHRIST  AT  SOUTH  BENSON.          333 

of  persuasion  to  induce  the  church  to  give  them  a  new 
hearing,  but  in  vain  ;  they  declined  to  reconsider  the  action 
that  was  now  giving  the  minority  so  much  offense. 

The  aggrieved  party  still  begged  that  the  December  ac- 
tion, which  charged  them  with  error  and  corruption,  should 
be  repealed,  expressing  a  willingness,  in  that  event,  for  the 
sake  of  peace,  to  live  quietly  under  the  old  Constitution. 
Even  Doctor  Noel  himself,  and,  in  fact,  all  the  preachers 
present,  at  last  relented,  and  urged  the  majority  to  expunge 
the  offensive  resolution;  but  they  persistently  refused  to 
do  it.  Every  effort  at  reconciliation  by  the  milder  spirits 
of  both  parties  having  failed,  the  minority  came  together, 
and,  with  the  assistance  of  Jacob  Creath  and  his  nephew, 
constituted  themselves,  on  the  Scriptures  alone,  into  a 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  For  that  alleged  schismatic  con- 
duct, they  were  unanimously  excluded  from  the  Baptist 
church  at  South  Benson,  at  its  regular  meeting,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1830. 


334  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

The  year  1830 — Smith  again  leaves  his  Farm  in  charge  of  his  Wife — Joseph  Hans- 
borough — The  withdrawing  Calvinists  meet  at  Lulbegrud — Smith  a  Spectator — 
Report  of  the  Committee — Smith  whispers — Calvinists  meet  at  Goshcn — 
Their  proceedings — Charges  against  the  Reformers — Resolve  themselves  into 
the  Association — Committee  on  Baptist  Customs — Meeting  of  the  Franklin 
Association  called — Advice  of  the  Hopewell  Church — Extracts  from  the  Cir- 
cular of  Franklin — Jacob  Creath,  sen.,  denied  the  right  of  speech — John  Smith 
allowed  five  minutes — John  Taylor's  Pamphlet. 

SMITH  had  received  but  little  compensation  during  the 
year  1829,  even  from  those  for  whom  he  had  specially 
labored ;  but  his  wife,  with  the  help  of  the  hired  man,  had 
raised  a  good  crop,  and,  by  this  means,  had  still  further  re- 
duced the  amount  of  his  indebtedness.  But  he  now  felt 
that,  in  justice  to  her,  he  ought  to  take  charge  of  the 
farm  for  the  ensuing  year,  and  try  to  do  something  for 
the  greater  comfort  of  his  family.  But  the  good  woman 
suggested  that,  with  the  same  servant  to  help  her,  she 
might  still  cultivate  the  farm  profitably;  and  she  assured 
him  of  her  perfect  willingness  to  undertake  it.  He  thought 
of  the  probable  result  of  the  deliberations  of  the  Convention 
which,  it  will  be  remembered,  James  French  had  called  to 
meet  at  Lulbegrud,  in  April,  and  he  felt  that  a  crisis  in 
the  religious  affairs  of  the  Association  was  at  hand.  His 
whole  heart  was  in  the  Gospel,  and  he  doubted  whether 
he  could  consistently  or  profitably  give  his  mind  to  any 


THE  CRISIS.  335 

thing  else.  He  concluded,  finally,  that  if  he  could  hire 
the  same  man  again,  he  would  continue  to  devote  his  time 
to  preaching ;  and  that,  as  soon  as  affairs  in  the  District 
would  allow,  he  would  again  visit  more  distant  parts  of  the 
country.  But  his  poverty  embarrassed  him.  He  could  not 
pay  off  the  note  which  he  had  already  given  for  hire  in  the 
preceding  year,  and  he  was  unwilling,  under  the  circum- 
stances, to  burden  himself  with  additional  debt. 

"  Brother  Hansborough,"  said  he,  "  I  owe  you  sixty-five 
dollars;  I  have  property,  but  no  money;  and  now  I  beg 
that  you  will  come  and  select  what  you  wish,  and  pay 
yourself." 

"Brother  Smith,"1  said  he,  "go  on  and  preach,  as  you 
have  been  doing.  Never  mind  that  note.  Take  my  man 
another  year,  and  give  yourself  entirely  to  the  cause." 

Those  few  kind  words,  spoken  at  an  anxious  and  crit- 
ical moment,  fixed  him  in  his  purpose ;  and,  giving  up 
every  thing  at  home  again  to  his  wife,  he  deliberately 
planned  the  campaign  for  1830,  and  aroused  himself  for 
the  coming  conflict  of  the  churches. 

In  the  meantime,  the  churches  and  parts  of  churches 
that  were  resolved  to  stand  on  old  Baptist  ground,  had 
been  again  duly  summoned,  by  James  French,  to  assem- 
ble in  extraordinary  council  at  Lulbegrud,  and  the  day 
appointed  for  the  meeting  now  drew  near.  The  anxiety 
of  the  people  became  intense.  "  How  many  of  the  twenty- 
five  churches  of  the  District  will  send  messengers?" 
"  What  will  they  do  when  they  come  together  ? "  "  What, 
according  to  Baptist  usage,  will  they  be  able  to  do,  should 
a  minority  only  of  the  churches  be  represented?"  "If 
they  meet  as  an  advisory  body,  what  advice  will  they 
give?"  "And  to  whom  will  they  give  it?"  Such  ques- 
tions were  asked  again  and  again,  and  the  people  specu- 
lated till  the  hour  for  the  meeting  came  on. 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Excluded  from  any  part  in  their  deliberations  by  the 
very  terms  of  the  invitation,  Smith  resolved,  nevertheless, 
to  be  a  spectator  of  their  proceedings.  He  had  studied 
the  nature  of  the  present  crisis  thoroughly,  and  though, 
as  he  believed,  a  rupture  in  society  must  come,  yet  re- 
ligious principle,  as  well  as  sound  policy,  required  that  he 
should  maintain  fellowship  with  his  Calvinistic  brethren 
as  long  as  possible.  He  was  willing  to  live  in  commun- 
ion with  them,  and  to  accord  to  them  the  same  liberty  of 
"opinion  and  action  that  he  claimed  for  himself.  His  lan- 
guage to  them  was:  "We  are  willing,  brethren,  on  our 
part,  to  confess  that  some  among  us  have  been,  at  times, 
guilty  of  improper  words  and  actions  ;  but  do  not  condemn 
the  cause  we  advocate  for  the  improprieties  of  a  few  indi- 
viduals. Although  we  can  not  consent  to  be  bound  by 
customs  which  the  Word  of  God  does  not  enjoin,  yet  we 
desire  to  live  with  those  who  differ  from  us,  provided  they 
will  allow  us  the  privilege  which  we  accord  to  them,  of 
thinking  and  acting  for  ourselves."  He  was  resolved  to 
leave  the  responsibility  of  dividing  the  churches  to  his  op- 
ponents, by  refraining  from  the  slightest  act  that  would 
hasten  the  schism,  and  by  doing  all  that  he  could  to  main- 
tain unity  and  peace  among  them.  He  had  but  little 
hope,  it  is  true,  that  the  great  brotherhood  of  Baptists 
could  be  held  together  much  longer ;  but  to  the  sectarians 
among  them  he  would  leave  the  work  of  schism ;  and  to 
this  policy  he  constantly  exhorted  his  brethren. 

With  such  feelings,  he  took  his  seat  in  the  old  log  meet- 
ing-house, at  Lulbegrud,  a  mere  spectator  in  that  most 
singular  assembly  of  his  brethren.  Only  seven  churches 
sent  either  messengers  or  letters,  to-wit :  Lulbegrud,  Salem, 
Howard's  Upper  Creek,  Goshen,  Unity,  Mount  Tabor,  and 
New  Providence ;  in  all  of  which  churches,  as  Smith  well 
knew,  there  were  many  friends  of  the  Ancient  Gospel. 


THE  COUNCIL  AT  LULBEGRUD.  337 

• 

Thomas  Boone  was  chosen  Moderator ;  for  David  Chen- 
ault,  for  some  reason,  was  not  there.  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  examine  the  Records,  Correspondence,  De- 
cisions, and  Reports  of  the  North  District  Association, 
from  the  day  of  its  constitution,  in  1802,  to  its  last  ses- 
sion, at  Unity,  in  1 829 ;  and  to  report  such  results  as  they 
might  deem  to  be  of  interest  to  the  Council.  In  due 
time,  the  Committee  made  the  required  examination,  and 
reported  in  substance,  as  follows : 

1.  That  the  Constitution  of  North  District  Association  makes 
it  the  duty  of  the  Association  to  have  a  watch-care  over  the 
churches,  and  gives  it  the  right  to  withdraw  from  such  as  act  dis- 
orderly. 

2.  That  the  Association  exercised  this  watch-care  over  both 
churches  and  preachers,  until  their  session  at  Cane  Spring,  in 
1827. 

3.  They  find  that,  at  that  Association,  Lulbegrud  complained 
of  a  new  mode  of  breaking  the  bread,  when  administering  and 
receiving  the  Lord's  Supper ;  but  the  Association  neglected  to 
notice  the  conduct  of  such  churches. 

4.  They  find  that  Cane  Spring  complained  to  the  Association 
when  in  session  at  Unity,  in  1829,  and  no  attention  was  paid  to 
her  complaint. 

5.  They  find,  also,  that  in  the  same  year  of  1829,  Goshen 
complains  to  the  Association  of  new  forms  of  words,  adopted 
and  used  in  the  administration  of  baptism,  etc.;  and  yet,  though 
the  church  requested  it,  no  attention  was  paid  to  her  request. 

6.  In  1829,  Lulbegrud  again  complains  that,  in  consequence 
of  changes  taking  place  among  the  churches  respecting  the  ad- 
ministering and  receiving  of  the  Lord's  Supper  and  other  mat- 
ters, she  could  not  commune ;  and  yet,  no  attention  was  paid 
to  her  complaint. 

The   Council  then   formally  declared  that  North  Dis- 
trict Association  consisted  of  such  churches  only  as  con- 
tinued to   practice  the  ordinances   of  Baptism  and   the 
29 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Lord's  Supper,  according  to  established  usage,  and  ad- 
hered to  the  old  way  of  administering  the  Constitution  of 
the  Association  and  the  Terms  of  Union  ;  and  they  in- 
structed the  clerk  to  take  charge  of  all  the  records  and 
papers,  and  to  keep  them  until  legally  called  for  by  the 
Association. 

Having  thus  accomplished  all  for  which  they  had  come 
together,  they  appointed  a  second  convention,  to  be  held 
in  June,  which  should  consist  of  messengers  to  be  sent  by 
those  churches  or  parts  of  churches,  and  those  only,  which 
were  satisfied  with  the  Ancient  Usages. 

But  before  they  adjourned,  much  discussion  arose  as  to 
the  place  where  the  next  convention  should  be  held. 
North  District  Association  was  by  adjournment  to  con- 
vene at  Spencer  ;  but  it  would  be  an  awkward  thing  for 
the  seceding  churches  also  to  meet  there ;  and  it  would  be 
a  violation  of  a  well-established  usage  to  meet  as  the  North 
District  Association  any  where  else.  Besides,  to  resolve 
to  go  elsewhere  would  be  a  final  separation ;  and  the  em- 
barrassing question  would  not  fail  to  arise:  Whether  the 
minority  that  refused  to  go  to  Spencer  according  to  a  res- 
olution unanimously  passed  in  1829,  was  the  North  Dis- 
trict Association,  or  merely  a  disorderly  and  schismatic 
faction  ? 

The  Council  was  divided  \f  some  were  for  meeting  at 
Spencer,  others  at  Goshen.  In  their  embarrassment,  an 
old  Calvinist,  by  the  name  of  Treadway,  turned  to  Smith, 
who  was  sitting  by  him,  and  inquired  of  him  in  a  whisper: 
"  What  do  you  think  of  our  going  to  Spencer  ?" 

During  the  whole  of  this  extraordinary  conference, 
Smith  had  sat  among  them,  silent  and  observant.  He 
had  made  no  attempt  to  speak,  though  he  had  longed  for 
an  opportunity  to  do  so.  But  he  knew  that  they  would 
not  suffer  him  to  open  his  mouth,  and  he  had  borne  the  re- 


AMONG   THE  CALVINISTS.  339 

striction  as  patiently  as  he  could.  He  now  replied  to  the 
question  asked  him,  but  in  a  voice  too  low  to  be  distinctly 
understood.  Treadway,  however,  arose,  and  urged  the 
Council  to  meet  by  all  means  at  Goshen  ;  for  the  Reform- 
ing brethren,  as  he  had  just  been  informed,  did  not  wish 
to  see  them  at  Spencer.  "Am  I  not  right,  Brother 
Smith  ? "  said  he ;  and  he  turned,  expecting  to  see  the 
head  of  that  Reformer  nod  assent. 

"  No ! "  said  Smith,  in  a  loud  voice,  "  you  are  wrong  in 
that,  Brother  Treadway,  as  you  are  in  every  thing  else!" 

"  Well,  what  did  you  say  ? " 

Smith  felt  that  the  time  for  speaking  had  come  at  last. 
He  arose  with  the  purpose,  not  only  of  correcting  his 
brother,  but  of  improving  the  opportunity  to  enlighten  the 
Council  on  other  points.  But  he  was  no  sooner  on  his 
feet,  than  they  cried  out  from  one  end  of  the  house  to  the 
other :  "  Do  n't  let  him  speak,  Brother  Moderator ! "  "  Put 
him  down !  Put  him  down  ! "  He  turned  and  looked  on 
them  for  some  time,  with  a  face  that  calmly  brightened,  as 
their  frowns  grew  dark.  When  their  noisy  protestations 
were  over,  he  said  : 

"  Will  you  not  let  me  tell  the  brother  what  I  said  ? " 

"  Put  him  down ! "  was  every-where  repeated,  and  their 
cries  became  louder  each  moment ;  for  he  stood  there  and 
patiently  smiled  at  their  clamors.  The  Moderator,  for 
awhile,  utterly  failed  in  his  attempts  to  enforce  the  decorum ; 
but  a  happy  expedient  at  last  occurred  to  him,  and  he  made 
one  more  effort  to  quiet  the  tumult.  Calling  the  boisterous 
messengers  to  order  with  a  loud  voice,  he  said : 

"I  decide  that  Brother  Smith  ought  to  be  allowed  to 
explain  himself;  but  he  must  do  so  in  a  whisper  to  Brother 
Treadway,  who  will  then  report  it  to  the  Council." 

"Whisper  it  again,  Brother  Smith,"  said  Treadway, 
softly. 


34O  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Smith,  still  standing,  looked  down  into  the  upturned  face 
of  Treadway,  and,  speaking  in  a  voice  that  was  heard  dis- 
tinctly by  all  that  were  in  the  house,  and  by  some  that 
were  standing  without,  full  fifty  yards  off,  he  whispered: 

"  I  said,  Brother  Treadway,  that  if  you  will  all  come  to 
Spencer  AS  BRETHREN,  we  shall  be  glad  to  see  you ;  but, 
if  you  expect  to  come  there  to  padlock  people's  mouths, 
as  you  do  here,  you  had  better  go  anywhere  else  in  all  the 
world  than  to  Spencer's  Creek !  Now,  tell  the  Moderator 
what  I  said ! " 

"You  have  already  told  it  yourself,  sir!"  said  an  indig- 
nant Calvinist,  who  foresaw  that  the  words  of  Smith  would 
be  reported  throughout  the  entire  District,  and  that,  con- 
sequently, no  apology  could  now,  in  the  eyes  of  the  people, 
justify  their  factious  assembly  at  Goshen.  But,  resolved 
on  a  separation  from  their  heretical  brethren,  at  any  cost, 
they  now  boldly  adjourned,  to  meet  at  Goshen,  in  Clark 
County,  on  the  fourth  Saturday  in  June,  one  month  before 
the  day  that  had  been  regularly  appointed  for  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Association  at  Spencer.  They  subsequently 
invited  all  such  churches  or  parts  of  churches  belonging 
to  North  District,  as  were  content  with  the  former  usages 
of  the  churches,  and  were  pleased  so  to  do,  to  send  letters 
and  messengers  to  the  meeting. 

In  reference  to  the  singular  decision  of  the  Lulbegrud 
Council,  that  North  District  had  violated  her  Constitution 
in  not  hearkening  to  the  complaints  of  certain  churches,  it 
will  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  very  individuals  who,  in  1827, 
at  Cane  Spring,  had  voted  to  postpone,  for  one  year,  the 
consideration  of  those  complaints,  now  composed  that  Coun- 
cil! In  1828,  no  complaints  were  made  by  any  church. 
In  1829,  at  Unity,  Smith  did  all  that  he  could  to  induce 
the  Opposition  to  listen  to  the  complaints  which  were  then 
made ;  for  he  wished  the  grounds  of  the  dissatisfaction  to 


AN  AD  VISOR  T  CO UNCIL.  34! 

be  discussed  before  the  people.  But  the  Calvinists  them- 
selves, who  now  censured  the  Association  for  neglect  of 
duty  on  that  occasion,  were  the  very  individuals  who  pre- 
vented it,  and  had  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  churches. 

"You  not  only  withdraw  from  us,"  said  Smith,  to  one 
of  their  elders,  "  but  you  exclude  us  from  your  fellowship 
for  faults  of  your  own ! " 

"No,  no,  Brother  Smith,"  replied  the  Elder,  "we  do  not 
assume  any  such  authority ;  you  know  that  we  are  only  an 
advisory  council." 

"  But  when  you  advise  a  church  or  preacher,  and  they 
do  not  choose  to  follow  your  advice,  what  do  you  do  with 
them?" 

"  Well,"  said  the  Elder,  "  we  have  to  withdraw  from  them, 
of  course." 

"But  are  you,  in  this  matter,  as  honest  as  the  Catholics, 
who  come  right  out  boldly  and  decree  their  refractory  mem- 
bers to  death  ?  I  would  as  soon  be  decreed,  as  advised,  to 
death." 

Referring  to  these  and  other  events  already  related, 
James  Mason  wrote  a  letter  to  the  editor  of  the  Millennial 
Harbinger,  in  May,  1830,  from  which  we  make  the  fol- 
lowing extracts : 

The  happiness  I  once  enjoyed  in  society  has  been  destroyed 
by  the  schism  that  has  taken  place  in  the  church  at  Grassy  Lick, 
on  account  of  an  old  written  creed,  as  old  as  the  church  itself, 
called  the  "Church  Covenant,"  which  held  forth,  in  eleven  or 
twelve  articles,  the  old  system  of  John  Calvin,  and  which  a  ma- 
jority of  the  church,  with  Brother  John  Smith  at  their  head, 
were  determined  no  longer  to  put  up  with.  After  voting  it  out, 
they  asked  for  letters,  and  constituted  in  less  than  two  miles, 
where  they  meet  to  themselves,  and  have  as  little  to  do  with 
those  they  left  as  Jews  and  Samaritans. 

I  plead  with  these  Campbellite  brethren,  as  they  are  called, 


342  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

to  be  patient,  and  to  let  the  old  Covenant  alone.  I  disbelieved 
it  as  much  as  any  of  them ;  but  rather  than  cause  a  division  of 
the  church,  I  was  willing  to  let  it  die  a  more  lingering  death; 
for  I  had  no  doubt  but  that  Brother  Smith's  preaching  the  An- 
cient Gospel,  as  he  was  constantly  doing,  would  kill  it  without 
any  other  aid.  I  thought  it  would  be  better  to  take  the  fort  by 
siege  than  to  risk  the  lives  of  our  men;  but  I  could  not  prevail, 
and  things  are  as  above  stated.  I  am  yet  in  the  old  camp, 
viewed  with  a  jealous  eye  by  both  parties,  and  not  very  popular 
with  either;  and  although  my  views  as  respects  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  are  pretty  much  in  accordance  with  these  reformers  of 
yours,  I  am  afraid  to  venture  myself  on  board  their  boat,  lest 
they  run  foul  of  a  sawyer. 

I  spent  an  evening  with  Brother  Smith  lately.  I  told  him  /'/ 
was  vain  to  profess  and  preach  Reformation,  unless  the  world  could 
see  it  in  practice ;  for,  if  those  who  profess  to  have  got  out  of  Baby- 
lon do  not  manifest  more  of  that  love  and  humility,  and  more  of  the 
spirit  of  meekness  and  forbearance  which  dwelt  in  the  divine 
Savior,  than  do  those  they  left  behind,  they  will  make  but  little 
progress  in  doing  good.  This  temper  and  spirit,  I  am  afraid,  are 
much  needed  among  them.  The  war  seems  at  present  to  be 
waxing  very  hot ;  and  I  think  that,  during  this  summer,  the  great 
battle  will  be  fought,  which  will  drive  every  one  to  his  proper 
standard.  The  North  District  Association  has  already  had  a 
swarm  out  of  her  hive.  An  old  man  who  has  long  been  clerk 
to  that  body,  and  has  had  possession  of  her  papers  and  records, 
has  lately  taken  it  into  his  head  to  call  a  Council  of  such 
churches  as  he  thought  would  favor  his  designs;  seven  only  at- 
tended by  their  letters  and  messengers.  These  have,  according 
to  his  designs,  advised  him  to  keep  possession  of  the  records 
of  North  District.  They  have  appointed  an  Association  to  meet 
on  the  fourth  Saturday  in  next  month,  [at  Goshen,]  and  have 
invited  all  the  churches,  or  parts  of  churches  that  favor  their 
designs,  to  meet  with  them ;  they  will  consider  themselves 
the  North  District  Association.  I  was  instrumental  in  stopping 
the  church  at  Grassy  Lick  from  sending  delegates  to  their  first 


NORTH  DISTRICT  CONDEMNED.  343 

[council  at  Lulbegrud],  but  I  am  of  opinion  that  I  shall  not  suc- 
ceed in  stopping  them  again,  as  a  majority  of  those  whom  your 
Reformers  left  behind  [at  Grassy  Lick]  are  of  the  old  Calvinistic 
stamp;  so  that  no  doubt  remains  that  when  the  North  District 
Association  meets  [at  Spencer],  at  the  time  appointed,  their 
records  and  papers,  with  eight  or  ten  churches,  will  be  missing. 

The  fourth  Saturday  in  June,  which  was  the  day  for  the 
Calvinists  to  assemble  at  Goshen,  came  on.  Messengers, 
representing  a  minority  often  churches  or  parts  of  churches, 
gathered  themselves  together.  There  were  David  Chen- 
ault,  James  French,  John  Treadway,  Reuben  McDannold, 
and  others,  severe  with  orthodoxy,  and  grave  with  the  re- 
sponsibility which  they  had  assumed.  Elder  Chenault 
ascended  the  chair,  and  James  French  took  up  his  clerkly 
pen.  Two  questions  were^immediately  raised,  by  the  Coun- 
cil, and  they  were  as  promptly  answered  : 

1.  Has  North  District,  by  abandoning  the  supervisorship  of 
the  churches    and  preachers,    departed    from  her  constitution  ? 
[and  the  Council  answered]  :  They  have  so  departed  ! 

2.  Has  a  church  that  takes  upon  herself  the  right  to  intro- 
duce and  practice  usages  unknown  among  the  churches  of  Elk- 
horn   and  South   Kentucky  Associations  at  the  time  of  their 
Union,  departed  from  the   Constitution  and  gone  out  of  the 
Union  ?    [and  the  Council  answered]  :    They  have  gone  out  of 
the  Union  ! 

"Our  reasons,"  said  they  "for  deciding  that  North  District 
Association  has  departed  from  her  Constitution,  are  contained 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  meeting  at  Lulbegrud,  in  April  last.  In 
point  of  Doctrine,  their  departures  from  what  was  believed  in  the 
churches  of  either  Elkhorn  or  South  Kentucky  Association,  at 
the  time  of  their  Union,  are  so  entire,  that  to  attempt  an  illustra- 
tion throughout,  would  be  too  long  and  tedious  a  writing.  They 
even  deny  the  special  operation  of  the  Spirit  in  quickening  the  dead 
sinner!  And  by  way  of  ridicule,  they  ask,  'Where  did  the 
Spirit  hit  you?  Was  it  in  the  shoulder,  or  under  the  fifth  rib?' 


344  LIFE  OF  ELDEU  JOHN  SMITH. 

11  As  to  departures  from  church  usage,  they  are  so  general  that, 
if  any  one  thing  in  church  customs,  as  practiced  in  the  churches 
of  Elkhorn  and  South  Kentucky  Associations  at  the  time  of  their 
Union,  remains  unchanged,  we  know  not  what  it  is.  Constitut- 
ing churches,  ordaining  preachers,  eating  the  Lord's  Supper, 
words  of  baptism,  the  action  of  putting  under  water  in  baptism — 
all  are  varied.  Can  it  be  thought  strange  that  these  innovations, 
all  beating  on  the  churches  at  once,  should  produce  distress,  con- 
fusions and  schisms  ?  ' ' 

We  would  not  be  understood  as  saying  that  all  these  things 
have  been  adopted  and  gone  into  by  all  the  churches,  except  the 
ten  above  named ;  nor  that  these  things  are  advocated  by  all  the 
preachers ;  but  they  are  more  or  less  adopted  in  several  of  the 
churches,  and  advocated  by  several  preachers.  To  our  own 
mortification,  we  acknowledge  that  we  have  connived  at  these 
departures,  changes,  and  alterations,  until  we  are  reduced  to  the 
necessity  of  trying  to  maintain  old  North  District  ground  unin- 
cumbered  by  any  of  these  new  and  discordant  things.  We  do, 
therefore,  agree  as  follows: 

."That  North  District  Association  be  held  at  Howard's  Upper 
Creek  meeting-house,  in  Clark  County,  the  fourth  Saturday  in 
July,  1831 ;  that  the  proceedings  of  the  Council  at  Lulbegrud, 
and  the  proceedings  of  this  meeting,  be  published  together;  that 
a  copy  thereof  be  furnished  to  those  who  meet  at  Spencer's 
Creek  in  July  next ;  that  a  copy  be  sent  to  each  Association  with 
whom  North  District  is  in  correspondence,  and  to  each  church 
registered  on  the  minutes  of  the  North  District  Association  at 
its  annual  session  in  July  last.  Each  church  that  shall  send 
letters  and  representatives  to  the  Association  when  convened 
at  Howard's  Upper  Creek  next  year — except  the  ten  churches 
represented  in  this  meeting — will  please  to  state  in  their 
letters  : 

"  i.  What  translation  of  the  Bible  they  consider  the  Scriptures 
of  truth ; 

"  2.  What  words  of  baptism  are  used  by  the  administrator  of 
such  church ; 


CHURCH  CUSTOMS.  345 

"3.  What  manner  of  breaking  bread  in  eating  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per is  practiced ; 

"  4.  What  is  the  mode  of  putting  the  person  baptized  under 
the  water."  _£  d  */V&1""a<Ct  PPv«v^  /tX*-X-J 

After  the  adoption  of  the  foregoing  Report  and  Recom- 
mendations, which  we  have  here  condensed,  the  Goshen 
Council,  notwithstanding  they  had  already  excluded  the 
majority  of  the  churches  of  the  Association  for  departing 
from  the  customs  of  the  Baptists,  proceeded  to  appoint 
James  French,  John  Treadway,  David  Chenault,  Reuben 
McDannold,  and  others  a  committee  "to  report  at  the 
next  Association,  one  year  from  that  time,  what  has  been 
the  uniform  custom  of  the  Baptists  in  attending  to  the 
ordinances  of  baptism,  the  Lord's  Supper,  etc." 

The  Council  then  instructed  their  committee  that  had 
been  appointed  to  carry  copies  of  their  proceedings  to 
Corresponding  Associations,  "  that,  if  they  should  find  any 
Association  split,  they  should  present  copies  to  such  parts 
only  as  stood  on  the  old  church  usages,  and  the  terms  of 
Union." 

Finally,  before  they  adjourned,  they  declared  themselves 
withdrawn  from  all  churches  that  had  departed  as  before 
alleged ;  but  that  their  fellowship  was  not  to  be  considered 
as  broken  with  those  minorities,  or  individual  members, 
who  were  content  with  the  former  usages  of  the  churches. 

The  example  now  set  by  the  Calvinists  of  the  North 
District  was  soon  followed  by  other  Associations.  Not 
long  after  the  meeting  of  the  Council  at  Lulbegrud,  in 
April,  notices  were  sent  around  to  the  several  churches  of 
the  Franklin  Association,  signed  by  Silas  M.  Noel,  and 
others,  announcing,  that  in  consequence  of  the  late  dis- 
turbances at  the  South  Benson  church,  and  other  pro- 
ceedings tending  to  distract  the  churches,  a  called  meeting 
of  the  Franklin  Association  would  be  held  at  Frankfort, 


346  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

on  the  second  Friday  in  July,  when  and  where  the 
churches  were  requested  to  send  their  usual  number  of 
messengers. 

"  Although  we  are  not  certainly  acquainted  with  all  the 
objects  of  your  meeting,"  said,  in  effect,  the  church  at  Hope- 
well,  in  reply  to  this  call,  "  yet  we  send  you  our  messengers 
to  sit  in  council  with  you,  and  to  represent  us  in  your  as- 
sembly. We  have  been  told  that  one  object  of  the  meeting 
is  to  decide  on  the  propriety  or  impropriety  of  continuing 
a  correspondence  with  Elkhorn  Association  in  case  she 
refuses  to  discountenance  certain  Teachers  and  Elders  of 
that  body,  against  whom  charges  have  been  exhibited  in  a 
certain  pamphlet,  and  made  against  them  in  other  ways. 

"  We  would  respectfully  suggest,  that  as  steps  have  been 
taken  to  decide  on  these  charges,  it  seems  improper  to 
declare  a  discontinuance  of  your  correspondence,  while 
that  investigation  is  still  pending.  .  .  .  We  do  sin- 
cerely believe  that  the  strife  now  pervading  the  churches, 
is  in  defense  of  words  to  no  profit ;  and  that,  if  the  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  ever  to  be  perfectly  joined  together  in 
one  mind  and  in  one  judgment,  it  must  be  when  our  faith 
shall  stand  not  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power  of 
God,  and  when  our  teachers  unanimously  say,  'I  am  de- 
termined to  know  nothing  among  you  but  Jesus,  and  him 
crucified.' 

"  The  advice  given  at  your  last  session,  to  reject  as  er- 
roneous and  corrupt,  such  persons  as  consider  the  Bible  a 
sufficient  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  has  been  the  cause  of 
much  division  and  discussion  in  South  Benson  church ; 
and  we .  do  sincerely  hope  that  no  such  advice  will  be 
given  again,  and  that  no  more  strife  will  be  sown  by  your 
decisions." 

The  usual  time  for  the  meeting  of  the  Franklin  Asso- 
ciation was  in  September.  Grieved,  however,  at  the  course 


CALLED  MEETING   OF  FRANKLIN.  247 

wh'ich  the  anti-creed  men  had  pursued  at  South  Benson, 
and  especially  at  the  conduct  of  Jacob  Creath,  in  consti- 
tuting them  into  a  church,  they  assembled  thus  early  in 
an  extraordinary  session,  evidently  to  move  the  Elkhorn 
Association,  to  whose  jurisdiction  the  Creaths  belonged, 
to  take  action  in  reference  to  their  alleged  disorders. 
Silas  M.  Noel,  John  Taylor,  and  others,  were  accordingly 
appointed  messengers  to  bear  a  letter  to  Elkhorn.  In 
that  communication,  Franklin  declares  her  determination 
to  drop  her  correspondence  with  Elkhorn,  if  such  schis- 
matic teachers  as  Josephus  Hewitt  and  the  Creaths  should 
be  retained  in  her  fellowship. 

Silas  M.  Noel,  John  Taylor,  and  others,  were  also  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  prepare  a  Circular  Letter  to  the 
churches  of  the  Franklin  Association ;  and,  on  the  next 
day,  they  reported  a  document,  evidently  written  by  Dr. 
Noel,  from  which  the  following  extracts  are  taken : 

DEAR  BRETHREN. — You  will  learn  from  our  Minutes  the 
[action]  of  our  Association.  Before  Alexander  Campbell  visited 
Kentucky,  you  were  in  harmony  and  peace ;  you  heard  but  the 
one  Gospel,  and  knew  only  the  one  Lord,  one  faith,  and  one 
baptism.  Your  church  Constitutions  were  regarded,  and  their 
principles  expounded  and  enforced  by  those  who  occupied  your 
pulpits.  Thus  you  were  respected  by  other  denominations  as  a 
religious  community.  Often  were  you  favored  with  refreshing 
seasons  from  on  high,  and  many  of  your  neighbors  and  your 
families  were  brought  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth.  How  de- 
lightful were  your  morning  and  evening  interviews,  cheered  by 
the  songs  and  prayers  and  exhortations  of  brethren,  and  by  the 
presence  of  Him  who  has  promised  that  where  two  or  three  are 
gathered  together  in  His  name,  to  be  in  the  midst !  Have  not 
those  happy  days  gone  by?  In  place  of  preaching,  you  now 
may  hear  your  church  covenants  ridiculed;  your  faith,  as  regis- 
tered upon  your  church  books,  is  denounced,  and  you  yourselves 
are  traduced,  while  the  more  heedless  and  unstable  abjure  the 


348  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH, 

faith,  and  join  with  the  wicked  in  scenes  of  strife,  schism,  and 
tumult.  The  fell  spirit  of  discord  stalks,  in  open  day,  through 
families,  neighborhoods  and  churches.  If  you  would  protect 
yourselves  as  churches,  make  no  compromise  with  error — mark 
them  who  cause  divisions,  and  divest  yourselves  of  the  last 
vestige  of  Campbellism. 

As  an  Association,  we  shall  esteem  it  our  duty  to  drop  cor- 
respondence with  any  and  every  Association  or  church  where 
this  heresy  is  tolerated.  Those  who  say  they  are  not  Campbell- 
ites,  and  yet  countenance  and  circulate  his  little  pamphlets,  are 
insincere — they  are  to  be  avoided.  When  they  say  they  are 
persecuted  because  "they  will  not  swallow  the  Philadelphia 
Confession  of  Faith,"  you  are  not  to  believe  it,  for  no  church 
has  called  one  of  them  in  question  on  that  point,  so  far  as  we 
know.  It  is  not  so  much  their  objection  to  this  book  as  our 
objections  to  their  Confession  of  Faith  that  makes  the  difference. 

When  they  tell  you  that  the  Holy  Spirit  begins  the  work  of 
salvation,  that  he  carries  it  on,  and  that  he  perfects  it,  they  may 
only  mean  that  all  this  is'  done  by  the  words  of  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
that  is,  by  the  Testament  read  or  heard,  and  not  by  the  quick- 
ening energies  of  God's  Spirit  directly.  All  supernatural,  im- 
mediate influences  are  discarded  by  them  as  mere  physical  oper- 
ations. All  that  we  have  esteemed  religion — the  work  of  God's 
grace  in  the  soul  directly — is  rejected.  Mr.  Campbell  calls  it 
a  whim — a  metaphysical  whim!  And,  that  you  may  know  the 
full  extent  of  our  objections,  we  herewith  send  you  several  ar- 
ticles, gathered  from  the  Christian  Baptist  and  the  Millennial 
Harbinger,  with  references  to  the  pamphlet  and  the  page,  where 
you  can  read  and  judge  whether  they  are  or  are  not  the  tenets 
of  the  Reformation. 

Thirty-nine  paragraphs,  sentences,  and  parts  of  sen- 
tences, extracted  from  the  pages  of  the  Christian  Baptist 
and  Millennial  Harbinger,  follow  these  remarks,  concern- 
ing which  extracts  the  editor  himself  afterward  remarked : 

In  forming,  for  me,  thirty-nine  Articles  of  Faith,  the  writer — 


CALLED  SESSION  OF  FRANKLIN.  349 

Dr.  Noel,  as  I  am  informed — has  ascribed  to  me  words,  sentences, 
and  articles  which  I  never  uttered  or  wrote;  and  many  others 
are,  by  a  perverse  ingenuity  of  quoting,  made  to  speak  a  lan- 
guage antipodes  to  any  thing  I  ever  taught.* 

When  this  circular  letter  was  read  before  the  Franklin 
Association,  and  a  motion  was  made  to  adopt  it,  much  dis- 
cussion ensued.  Jacob  Creath,  jr.,  who,  with  other  Re 
formers,  had  come  to  witness  the  proceedings,  tried  in  vain 
to  speak  a  few  words  in  defense  of  himself  and  his  breth- 
ren ;  he  was  forced  down  by  the  noisy  interruptions  of  the 
messengers.  Jacob  Creath,  sen.,  also  endeavored  to  gain 
the  floor,  declaring,  in  their  hearing,  that  he  could  refute 
every  thing  that  had  been  charged  against  them ;  but  he 
was  loudly  called  to  order  from  every  part  of  the  house. 
He  stood  there  before  them  with  composure  till  the  disor- 
der subsided  ;  and  then,  laying  his  hand  on  his  white  head, 
he  said : 

"  Brethren,  I  am  now  sixty  years  old  ;  I  have  been  forty 
years  in  the  service  of  my  God  and  my  country,  and  this 
is  the  first  time  in  my  life  that  I  have  known  men  to  be 
arraigned  before  any  tribunal  on  any  charge  and  the  con- 
stitutional privilege  of  answering  for  themselves  denied 
them!"  But  loud  and  repeated  clamors  for  order  forced 
him  to  silence. 

John  Smith  also,  who  was  a  deeply  interested,  but  unrec- 
ognized spectator  on  this  occasion,  next  arose  to  speak, 
but  even  his  voice  was  drowned  in  their  cries,  and  he  was 
compelled  to  take  his  seat. 

During  these  strange  proceedings,  some  allusion  was 
made  in  the  discussion  to  the  fact  that  the  Reformers  and 
the  Baptists  of  the  North  District  Association  had  sepa- 
rated, and  the  question  was  raised,  whether  the  letter  or- 


*  Millennial  Harbinger,  voL  I,  page  373. 


350  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

dered  the  year  before  to  be  written  and  sent  to  that  Asso- 
ciation when  convened  at  Spencer,  should  not  now  be  re- 
called. The  question  excited  much  interest,  during  the 
discussion.of  which,  John  Smith  again  arose,  and  asked 
for  the  privilege  of  giving  the  history  of  that  unfortunate 
division :  "For  if  Franklin,"  said  he,  "  wishes  to  act  wisely 
and  justly,  she  will  listen  to  the  facts  in  the  case."  But  he 
was  answered  only  by  impatient  cries  of  "  order ! " 

"  I  do  not  wish,  brethren,"  continued  he,  "  to  argue  any 
question  of  doctrine  or  policy  ;  but  to  give  you  a  simple 
statement  of  facts  for  your  own  advantage." 

"  Don't  let  him  do  it,  Brother  Moderator !  Don't  let  him 
do  it!"  and  the  cries  for  order  grew  more  earnest  and 
noisy. 

"  Brethren,"  at  last  said  John  Taylor,  "  I  have  known 
Brother  Smith  a  long  time,  and  I  know  him  to  be  a  truth- 
ful and  candid  man.  I  move  that  we  allow  him  the  privi- 
lege of  speaking."  But  the  motion  was  quickly  voted  down. 

"  Then,"  persisted  Taylor,  "  do  let  us  allow  him  the  privi- 
lege of  talking  just  five  minutes,  if  no  longer." 

This  proposition  was  debated  for  nearly  one-half  hour, 
but  was  finally  carried.  Smith  instantly  arose,  and  out 
came  the  watches  in  every  part  of  the  house. 

"  Brethren,"  said  he,  "  if  North  District  has  violated  her 
Constitution  as  charged,  by  neglecting  the  supervisorship 
of  her  churches  or  preachers,  then  those  who  met  in  June 
at  Goshen,  and  not  we,  are  guilty  of  that  violation. 

"  When  letters  came  up  to  the  Association  last  year,  at 
Unity,  complaining  of  new  customs  introduced,  we,  whom 
you  are  about  to  condemn,  urged  those  very  brethren  who 
have  now  withdrawn  from  us,  to  attend  to  those  complaints> 
and  they  would  not  do  it !  They  now  charge  us  with  tnat 
neglect,  which  was  all  their  own !  They  have  withdrawn 
from  the  majority  ;  and,  taking  with  them  our  books  and 


"CAMPBEL&SM  EXPOSED:'  351 

papers,  have  styled  themselves  the  North  District  Associa- 
tion, and  affected  to  exclude  us  for  faults  which  they,  and 
they  only,  have  committed  !  " 

But  the  mind  of  Franklin  was  already  made  up,  and  the 
letter  heretofore  ordered  to  be  written  to  North  District 
was  recalled. 

The  circular  letter,  that  had  been  drawn  up  by  Dr.  Noel 
and  approved  by  the  Franklin  Association,  was  ordered  tc. 
be  printed,  and  circulated  among  the  churches,  and  they 
then  adjourned  sine  die. 

On  his  way  home,  Smith  stopped  at  the  house  of  Thomas 
Bullock,  Esq.,  the  able  Moderator  of  the  Elkhorn  Associa- 
tion, and  one  of  the  most  honorable  and  upright  of  men. 
There  he  again  met  with  John  Taylor,  who  had  with  him  a 
partisan  pamphlet  which  he  had  recently  published,  called 
"A  History  of  Clear  Creek  Church,  and  Campbellism  Ex- 
posed." This  production  was  very  severe  against  the 
Creaths,  William  Morton,  and  Josephus  Hewitt,  on  account 
of  the  part  which  they  had  taken  in  changing  the  faith  and 
customs  of  the  orthodox  churches.  Smith  himself  had  not 
escaped  the  critical  pen  of  Taylor ;  but  he  was  more  sur- 
prised to  find  in  the  book  so  many  things  that  he  thought 
must  certainly  have  been  written  in  ignorance  of  the  facts. 
He  called  the  attention  of  the  author,  in  his  usual  candid 
way,  especially  to  what  was  written  against  William  Morton, 
affirming  that  the  pamphlet  did  that  good  man  great  injus- 
tice, as  he  could  abundantly  prove.  He  then  made  to  Tay- 
lor such  a  statement  of  facts  as  he  supposed  would  fully 
vindicate  Morton,  feeling  no  concern  at  all  about  any  thing 
that  had  been  written  against  himself.- 


352  LIFE  OF  ELDEIi'JOUN  SMITH 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

North  District  Association — Cane  Spring  wasted — The  gathering  of  Reformers  at 
Spencer — Reception  of  the  Goshen  Messengers — Reply  of  the  Reformers  to 
them — Resolutions  against  the  Franklin  Association — Books  and  Papers  of 
the  former  Clerk  demanded — John  Taylor  at  Spencer — Smith  advertises  for 
him  his  Pamphlet  called  "  Campbellism  Exposed.'' — Taylor's  Thanks. 

ON  the  fourth  Saturday  in  July,  the  North  District  As- 
sociation met  at  Spencer's  Creek,  pursuant  to  the  resolu- 
tion adopted  at  Unity,  in  1829.  Elder  Thomas  Boone 
being  absent,  the  Introductory  Sermon  was  delivered  by 
John  Newton  Payne.  Thomas  White  was  chosen  Moder- 
ator, and  Buckner  H.  Payne,  Clerk.  Of  the  twenty-six 
churches  of  the  District,  all  but  eight  sent  messengers  and 
letters  as  usual.  Neither  Lulbegrud  nor  Grassy  Lick  was 
represented.  Cane  Spring  sent  her  four  delegates ;  but 
David  Chenault  was  not  among  them  ! 

In  spite  of  all  the  vigilance  of  that  steadfast  Baptist,  the 
heresies  which  he  so  much  dreaded  had  taken  root  and 
sprung  up  at  Cane  Spring.  The  church  that  he  had 
planted,  and  watered  with  so  much  care,  and  for  whose  in- 
crease he  had  spent  so  many  prayers,  had  at  last  been 
wasted  by  John  Smith.  It  deeply  grieved  his  heart  to 
witness  all  these  things  ;  and  surely  it  was  enough  to  bring 
down  his  gray  hairs  with  sorrow  to  the  grave !  He  had 
faithfully  represented  a  small  minority  of  his  congregation 
in  the  Convention  at  Goshen,  but  all  his  influence  had  not 


QATHERINO  OF  REFORMERS  AT  SPENCER.        353 

been  enough  to  save  his  beloved  church  from  apostasy  ;  so, 
turning  away  from  those  who  had  forsaken  the  old  ways, 
he  resolved  to  remain  and  die  with  the  few  who  were  true 
and  faithful  to  the  covenant  of  their  fathers. 

It  had  not  been  the  purpose  of  the  church  at  Somerset 
to  seek  a  connection  with  any  Association.  But  after  the 
secession  of  the  Calvinists  at  Goshen,  the  Reformers  de- 
termined, as  soon  as  practicable,  to  convert  the  meetings 
of  the  Association  into  annual  assemblies  for  Christian 
worship  and  communion  ;  and,  in  order  to  bring  about 
such  a  revolution  without  debate  or  delay,  they  judged  it 
expedient  to  come  together  once  more  as  an  Association, 
at  Spencer.  Accordingly,  Somerset,  though  refusing  to 
be  called  a  Baptist  church,  or  to  wear  any  other  denomina- 
tional name,  concluded  to  send  her  messengers,  David 
Badger,  James  Allen,  Jonathan  Masterson,  and  Henry 
Darnall,  who  were  all  cordially  admitted  to  seats. 

Never,  perhaps,  in  the  history  of  North  District  had  so 
large  a  concourse  of  people  assembled  as  that  which  now 
crowded  the  groves  of  Spencer.  There  were  Jacob  Coons 
and  Absalom  Rice,  the  first  fruits  of  the  Ancient  Gospel 
in  the  State,  and  Thomas  Mosley,  whose  house  was  the 
first  one  thrown  open  to  John  Smith,  when^in  1828,  he 
stood  up  alone  against  the  whole  North  District  Associa- 
tion and  boldly  preached  the  heresy  for  which  they  had 
condemned  him.  And  there,  too,  were  such  men  as  David 
Bruton,  Joseph  Bondurant,  Thomas  White,  William  Orear, 
Buckner  H.  Payne,  Moses  Ryan,  Asa  Maxey,  and  John 
Newton  Payne.  From  other  Associations  came  Jacob 
Creath,  sen.  and  Jacob  Creath,  jr.,  Josephus  Hewitt, 
Oliver  C.  Steele,  and  Josiah  Collins.  Present  also  were 
David  S.  Burnet,  the  youngest  of  those  who  then  preached 
the  Ancient  Gospel,  and  Aylett  Raines,  who  had  ceased 
to  speculate  that  he  might  believe,  and  Thomas  Camp- 
30 


354  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

bell,  of  Bethany,  venerated  as  the  Father  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  this  Association  was  to  receive 
the  messengers  who  had  been  sent  by  the  Council  that  met 
at  Goshen.  They  bore  a  printed  copy  of  their  proceedings, 
which  was  filled  with  allegations  of  heresy  and  disorder 
against  undescribed  churches  and  unnamed  preachers. 
Nevertheless,  it  was  allowed  to  be  read,  and  the  messen- 
gers were  courteously  invited  to  sit  with  the  Association. 

There  were  many  things  stated  in  the  Goshen  manifesto 
which,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Association,  were  erroneous, 
or  needed  explanation.  John  Smith,  therefore,  with  the 
Clerk,  proceeded  to  draw  up  a  paper  in  the  form  of  a  cir- 
cular letter,  in  which  the  actions  and  the  arguments  of  the 
Goshen  Convention  were  reviewed,  and  on  Monday,  the 
Association  read  and  approved  that  paper,  and  ordered  it 
to  be  printed  with  the  minutes.  The  circular  says,  in  sub- 
stance : 

Justice  to  ourselves  and  to  the  world  requires  that  we  take 
some  notice  of  the  charges  published  by  a  few  discontented 
members  of  some  of  the  churches,  who  were  convened  first  at 
Lulbegrud,  and  subsequently  at  Goshen. 

In  the  first  place,  we  deny  that  North  District  has  ever  de- 
parted from  her  former  way  of  administering  her  Constitution, 
or  has  abandoned  any  supervisorship  that  she  has  ever  claimed 
over  either  churches  or  preachers,  in  any  instance  where  a 
charge  was  brought  according  to  the  law  of  Christ  or  the  cus- 
tom of  the  Baptists. 

In  the  next  place,  we  affirm  that  no  church  of  North  District 
has  ever  been  convicted,  or  even  accused,  of  introducing  or 
practicing  usages  or  customs  unknown  among  the  churches  of 
South  Kentucky  and  Elkhorn  Associations  at  the  time  of  their 
union.  This  her  records  clearly  prove. 

But  were  the  customs  and  usages  of  either  Elkhorn  or  South 
Kentucky  ever  adopted  as  a  rule  for  the  churches  ?  The  cus- 


REPLY  TO  THE  CALVINISTS  AT  GO  SEEN.         35$ 

toms  and  opinions  of  those  Associations  were  different;  one 
was  constituted  upon  the  old  London  Confession  of  Faith ;  the 
other,  upon  the  Bible.  One  preached  particular  atonement ; 
the  other,  a  general  atonement;  one,  an  effectual  calling;  the 
other,  a  calling  common  to  all  men.  One  was  fond  of  written 
creeds  and  decorums;  the  other  was  content  with  the  Bible 
alone.  One  was  fond  of  washing  the  saints'  feet;  the  other  did 
not  think  it  incumbent  upon  them  to  do  it. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  Elkhorn  and  South  Kentucky  agreed 
at  the  time  of  the  union  to  take  the  Word  of  God  as  their  only 
rule  of  faith  and  practice,  and  to  tolerate  each  other  in  differ- 
ences of  opinion  and  custom,  as  Christians  ought  to  have  done, 
and  as  they  ought  still  to  do. 

But  what  is  most  astonishing,  those  individuals  who  met  at 
Goshen,  after  withdrawing  from  us,  as  they  say,  on  account  of 
our  departures  from  the  customs  of  the  Baptists,  proceeded  to  ap- 
point a  committee  to  find  out  what  Baptist  customs  are  ! 

In  addition  to  all  this,  never  have  they  attempted  to  call 
either  individuals  or  churches  to  account  to  reclaim  them,  or 
even  to  make  them  sensible  of  any  fault,  if  fault  they  had ! 
They  even  denied  some  of  us  the  right  to  be  heard  on  the  in- 
sinuations contained  in  their  publication,  and  refused  us  the 
privilege  of  explanation !  If  this  be  Baptist  custom,  or  Chris- 
tian charity,  we  have  it  to  learn  from  them,  and  not  from  the 
Elkhorn  or  the  South  Kentucky  Associations,  nor  yet  from  Jesus 
Christ  or  his  Apostles. 

They  allege  that  North  District  has  departed  from  her  Con- 
stitution, and  they  deny  that  those  who  now  meet  at  Spencer  are 
the  North  District  Association  at  all ;  but  they  declare  that  they 
themselves  are  the  Association,  and  they  have  agreed  to  meet  as 
such  at  Howard's  Upper  Creek,  on  the  fourth  Saturday  in  July, 
1831.  Now,  if  it  be  the  fact  that  those  only  who  met  at  Goshen 
are  the  North  District  Association,  it  follows  that  they  only  are 
the  transgressors  of  whom  they  complain;  and,  according  to  their 
own  decision,  they  have  gone  out  of  the  union  !  Thus,  like 
frantic  Saul,  they  have  fallen  upon  their  own  sword. 


356  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

But  we  are  still  more  surprised  at  the  blinding  influence  of 
sectarian  prejudice  which  made  those  brethren  say  "that,  in 
point  of  doctrine,  the  departures  from  what  was  exhibited  and 
believed  in  the  churches  of  either  Elkhorn  or  South  Kentucky 
Association  at  the  time  of  their  union,  are  so  entire  that  to  at- 
tempt an  illustration  throughout  would  be  too  long  and  tedious 
a  writing."  Now,  did  not  both  Elkhorn  and  South  Kentucky 
believe  in  only  one  living  and  true  God,  who  created  and  up- 
holds all  things?  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God  and  the 
only  Savior  of  sinners?  that  all  men  are  sinners  and  guilty  be- 
fore God?  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to  the  Scrip- 
tures? was  buried  and  rose  from  the  dead  according  to  the 
Scriptures?  that  he  ascended  into  heaven?  that  he  is  the  only 
Mediator  between  God  and  man?  that  sinners  must  believe  in 
the  name  of  the  Son  of  God,  repent  of  their  sins,  and  obey  the 
Gospel,  or  they  can  not  be  saved?  Did  they  not  believe  that 
there  is  one  Body,  and  one  Spirit,  one  hope,  one  Lord,  one 
faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of  all?  Did  they  not 
believe  that  there  will  be  a  resurrection  of  the  dead,  both  of 
the  just  and  the  unjust,  and  that  all  will  be  judged  according  to 
their  works?  and  that  the  wicked  will  go  away  to  everlasting 
punishment,  and  the  righteous  into  life  eternal?  But  we  have 
neither  denied  nor  departed,  in  the  smallest  degree,  from  any 
of  these  Gospel  facts  or  truths;  we  have,  on  the  other  hand,  al- 
ways insisted  upon  them.  Now,  as  there  is  a  perfect  agreement, 
in  these  and  other  matters,  between  what  was  believed  by  the 
churches  of  Elkhorn  and  South  Kentucky,  and  what  is  believed 
by  us  and  all  the  churches  of  the  North  District,  can  any  one 
suppose  that  our  departures  in  doctrine  are  as  entire  as  they  are 
represented  to  be? 

You,  brethren  of  Goshen,  have  made  but  one  specification  in 
reference  to  the  matter  of  doctrine;  and  that  is  not  correctly 
stated.  It  is  true  that,  under  peculiar  circumstances,  one  indi- 
vidual, not  a  church,  as  you  say,  when  speaking  of  faith  as  com- 
ing by  hearing,  and  of  the  promise  that  the  Spirit  will  be  given 
to  those  who  believe,  in  opposition  to  the  doctrine  of  receiving 


REPLY  TO  THE  CALVINISTS  AT  OOSHEN.         357 

the  Spirit  without  the  use  of  the  senses,  or  the  aid  of  the  Word, 
did  ask  if  the  Spirit  enters  not  through  the  senses,  where  does  it 
enter?  But  the  individual  who  used  the  expression  does  not 
justify  himself  in  it.  Why  do  you  thus  select  an  improper  ex- 
pression, uttered  by  an  individual  two  or  three  years  ago,  and 
publish  it  to  the  world  now,  in  false  colors,  as  a  sentiment  of  the 
churches? 

You  say,  also,  "  that  departures  in  practice  or  church  usages 
are.so  general,  that,  if  any  one  thing  as  practiced  in  the  churches 
of  the  Elkhorn  and  South  Kentucky  Associations  at  the  time  of 
their  Union  remains  unchanged,  you  do  not  know  what  it  is!  " 
Now,  brethren,  we  again  ask  you :  Was  it  not  their  custom  to 
receive  and  dismiss  members  by  letters?  to  receive  by  profession 
of  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  and  immersion  ?  to  exclude  for  drunk- 
enness and  other  violations  of  the  law  of  Christ  when  the  trans- 
gressors would  not  reform  ?  Was  it  not  their  custom,  if  a  brother 
trespassed  against  another,  that  the  offended  brother  should  tell 
the  offender  his  fault?  Was  it  not  their  custom  to  assemble 
themselves  together,  to  sing  praises  to  God,  to  pray  for  one  an- 
other, to  exhort  one  another,  to  preach  and  to  teach  according 
to  the  best  of  their  abilities?  Was  it  not  their  custom  to  have  a 
Moderator,  or  Bishop,  to  preside  and  keep  order,  when  attending 
to  any  matter  of  discipline,  and  a  Clerk  to  record  every  thing? 

These  are  some  of  the  most  common  usages  and  'customs  of 
the  Elkhorn  and  South  Kentucky  Associations  at  the  time  of 
their  union ;  have  any  of  the  North  District  churches  departed 
from  them?  How,  then,  can  you  say,  if  any  custom  remains 
uncharged,  you  know  not  what  it  is? 

You  mention  some  customs  that  seldom  call  for  attention  from 
the  Baptist  churches ;  such  as  ordaining  preachers  and  constitut- 
ing churches.  Name  the  church  in  this  Association  that  has 
changed  these  customs ;  and  name,  too,  the  changes  that  have  been 
made.  The  first  knowledge  that  this  Association  has  had  of  any 
such  changes,  has  been  derived  from  your  own  Minutes ! 

But,  brethren,  has  the  custom  of  the  Baptists  been  uniform  in 
ordaining  ministers  and  constituting  churches?  We  know  that 


358  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

it  has  not  been  uniform.  Your  committee  will  report  next  year 
whether  any  such  uniformity  exists  or  not ! 

In  reference  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  you  know,  as  well  as  we  do, 
that  there  has  not  been  uniformity ;  for  it  is  known,  not  only  to 
us,  but  to  you  also,  that  some  of  the  oldest  preachers  in  Kentucky 
do  not  break  the  bread  in  very  small  bits,  but  leave  it,  as  some 
of  ours  do,  in  larger  pieces.  This,  and  our  attendance  on  that 
ordinance  rather  more  frequently,  constitute  the  head  and  front 
of  our  offending  in  this  matter  !  . 

As  to  the  words  of  baptism — were  they  ever  precisely  the  same 
among  the  preachers  of  the  North  District  ?  Letters  were  sent 
to  your  meeting  at  Lulbegrud  in  April  last,  containing  the  bap- 
tismal words  of  different  administrators ;  if  you  will  show  those 
letters,  the  world  will  see  that  the  baptismal  formulary  has  been 
diverse. 

But  what  church  has  attempted  to  change  either  the  baptis- 
mal words,  or  the  mode  of  putting  a  candidate  under  water? 
You  have  named  none ;  and  not  one  has  attempted  it  ! 

You  say  that  one  reason  for  deciding  that  the  North  District 
Association  has  departed  from  her  Constitution  is,  that,  in  1827, 
at  Cane  Spring,  she  neglected  to  attend  to  the  complaints  of 
Lulbegrud  !  But  that  church  did  not  complain  of  any  sister 
church  by  name.  True,  the  name  of  a  certain  individual  was 
read  out,  in  a  manner  contrary  to  the  usages  of  Baptists  and  the 
law  of  Christ ;  and  the  committee  of  arrangements  were  of  opin- 
ion, as  stated  by  one  of  them  on  the  floor,  that  for  this  indeco- 
rous act,  Lulbegrud  deserved  reproof ! 

Another  reason  stated  is,  that,  in  1829,  Goshen  complained, 
and  she  too  received  no  attention  !  But  Goshen  complained  of 
neither  church  nor  individual.  Besides,  the  majority  of  the 
committee  of  arrangements  that  year  were  of  her  own  religious 
views,  and  they  are  still  with  you.  Goshen's  preacher,  also,  and 
her  messengers,  were  all  there,  afraid  or  ashamed  to  name  her 
complaints  !  And  now  you  charge  your  own  neglect  on  us  ! 

Another  reason  is,  that,  in  1829,  Cane  Spring  complained,  and 
no  one  listened  to  her  complaints !  But  she  complained  of  no 


REPLY  TO   THE  CALVINISTS  AT  GOSH  EN.        359 

church.  Her  letter  was  full  of  misrepresentations  of  a  certain 
individual,  who  was  not  even  a  member  of  the  Association. 

Another  reason  you  give  is,  that,  in  1829,  Lulbegrud  com- 
plained again,  and  her  complaints  still  went  unheard.  We  say 
again  that  Lulbegrud  complained  neither  of  any  church  nor 
individual!  In  a  sweeping  clause  she  says:  "In  consequence 
of  changes  taking  place  among  the  churches  of  North  Dis- 
trict in  administering  the  Lord's  Supper,  we  can  not  com- 
mune !  "  But  she  does  not  even  name  the  change  to  which  she 
objects !  And  yet  the  committee  of  arrangements,  whose  duty 
it  was  to  bring  business  before  the  Association,  never  mentioned 
those  things,  although  a  member  of  the  Lulbegrud  church  was  on 
the  committee,  and  a  majority  of  them  were  then  with  you  in 
your  religious  views ! 

For  such  reasons  as  these,  you  say  that  North  District  has  de- 
parted from  her  Constitution,  declaring  at  the  same  time,  how- 
ever, that  you  yourselves  are  the  Association. 

But,  as  the  Goshen  brethren  say  so  much  about  Baptist  cus- 
toms, we  ourselves  will  ask  a  few  questions  about  those  customs : 

1.  Is  it  Baptist  custom  to  complain  of  sister  churches  before 
an  Association,  and  yet  name  neither  church  nor  offense  ? 

2.  Can  a  deliberative  body  attend  to  any  complaint,  unless 
the  offense  and  the  offender  be  named  ? 

3.  Is  it  Baptist  custom  to  report  any  individual  member  to 
the  Association,  until  he  has  been  dealt  with  in  private,  or  be- 
fore his  church  ? 

4.  Is  it  Baptist  custom  to  report  private  persons,  who  are  not 
members  of  the  Association  ? 

5.  Is  there  any  article  in  the  Constitution  of  North  District 
Association  obliging  her  to  attend  to  such  complaints  as  those 
named  above  ? 

6.  If  there  is  no  such  article,  could  North  District  depart 
from  her  Constitution  by  neglecting  them  ? 

7.  Would  not  North  District  have  violated  Baptist  usage,  as 
well  as  Gospel  order,  had  she  taken  up  any  of  those  indefinite 
charges? 


360  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

8.  Seeing  that  the  Constitution  says  expressly,  That  all  mat- 
ters shall  be  determined  by  the  will  of  the  majority,  was  it  not  a 
palpable  violation  of  that  Constitution  for  the  Goshen  minority 
to  decide  Associational  questions  ? 

9.  Is  it  the  custom  of  the  Baptists  for  the  minority  of  a 
church,  or  of  an  Association,  to  meet  together  and  condemn 
the  whole  body  to  which  they  belong  ? 

10.  Is  it  the  custom  of  the  Baptists  to  neglect  commemorat- 
ing the  Lord's  death  for  two  or  three  years  together,  as  Lulbe- 
grud  has  done,  because  she  thinks  some  changes  have  taken  place 
in  the  sister  churches  ? 

11.  Is  it  the  custom  of  the  Baptists  to  call  such  persons  together 
as  may  suit  their  own  notions,  and  accuse,  condemn,  and  exclude 
their  brethren,  without  allowing  those  whom  they  accuse  to  say 
a  word  for  themselves,  as  those  Goshen  brethren  have  done  ? 

12.  Is  it  the  custom  of  Baptist  churches  to  send  two  sets  of 
messengers  and  two  letters  to  the  same  Association  the  same 
year,  as  Lulbegrud  did  for  four  or  five  years? 

13.  Is  it  the  custom  of  Baptist  churches  to  have  two  Moder- 
ators in  the  same  church,  one  in  each  end  of  the  meeting-house, 
as  Lulbegrud  did  for  some  years  ? 

14.  And  will  not  these  queries  be  of  advantage  to  the  Com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  Goshen  meeting  to  prepare  and  report 
next  year,  the  uniform  custom  of  the  Baptists  ? 

The  reference  here  made  to  Lulbegrud  and  Goshen,  is  not 
made  in  a  retaliatory  spirit,  but  to  show  that  those  two  churches, 
or  rather  some  members,  through  those  churches,  have  caused 
much  disorder,  and  that  the  Association  has  acted  toward  them 
with  great  forbearance. 

We  do  not  blame  all  the  members  of  the  nine  churches  that 
assembled  at  Goshen — Elder  David  Chenault's  little  fraction  of 
Cane  Spring  we  do  not  count  as  a  church — but  we  blame  the 
messengers  themselves,  who,  in  a  tyrannical  manner  drew  off 
the  churches  without  the  consent  of  the  same,  from  those  with 
whom  they  stood  united.  Some,  unwilling  to  submit  to  it,  have 
since  withdrawn  from  them. 


REPLY  TO  THE  FRANKLIN  ASSOCIATION.         361 

Had  the  Goshen  Council  instructed  their  Committee  to  ex- 
amine the  New  Testament,  in  order  to  find  what  was  enjoined 
by  Christ,  and  practiced  by  primitive  churches  and  preachers, 
it  would  have  shown  that  they  intended  to  abide  by  the  Terms 
of  Union,  which  declare  that  the  Word  of  God  is  our  only  rule 
of  faith  and  practice.  But  to  appoint  a  committee  to  examine 
some  unauthoritative  documents,  in  order  to  find  a  set  of  human 
customs  and  opinions,  looks  more  like  violating  the  Terms  of 
Union. 

But,  finally,  if  you  think  that  we  have  departed  from  the  Con- 
stitution of  North  District  Association,  or  embarrassed  her  super- 
visorship  over  the  churches,  or  in  any  way  changed  her  mode 
of  administering  her  Constitution  and  Terms  of  Union,  we 
ask  you  to  call  to  your  aid  whom  you  please,  and  appoint  your 
own  time  and  place,  anywhere  within  the  bounds  of  the  Asso- 
ciation, and  we  will  answer  for  ourselves ;  and  the  world  will 
see  whether  North  District  has  made  such  departures  as  you 
allege. 

On  Monday,  the  Association,  having  learned  what  had 
been  done  at  the  called  meeting  of  the  Franklin  Associa- 
tion in  June,  passed,  substantially,  the  following  preamble 
and  resolution,  in  reference  to  their  action : 

Whereas,  there  was  a  meeting  held  in  Frankfort,  on  the  ninth 
of  July  and  the  day  following,  1830,  of  an  extraordinary  char- 
acter (the  minutes  of  which  meeting  claim  for  it  the  appel- 
lation of  The  franklin  Association),  while  the  usual  meeting  of 
said  Association  is  in  September;  and,  whereas,  this  unconstitu- 
tional meeting  manifested  a  belligerent  spirit  in  withholding  their 
Corresponding  Letter  to  us,  and  in  withdrawing  the  Corre- 
sponding Letter  to  Elkhorn,  which  she  directed  to  be  sent  last 
September,  at  her  usual  annual  meeting,  and  in  substituting  one 
containing  charges  against  certain  individuals  in  the  Elkhorn 
Association,  which  virtually  overthrows  all  Church  power,  and 
exalts  Associational  power  at  the  expense  of  the  churches;  and, 
31 


362  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

•whereas,  furthermore^  the  partiality  and  injustice  of  this  strange 
meeting  was  glaringly  manifested  in  her  refusing  to  invite 
the  members  of  the  North  District  and  Elkhorn  Associa- 
tions, and  others,  whom  they  thought  unfavorable  to  her  un- 
constitutional and  illegal  proceedings,  and  in  her  inviting  to  sit 
with  her  those  who  were  thought  favorable  to  her  unauthorized 
course; 

Resolved,  therefore,  That,  under  existing  circumstances,  the 
North  District  Association  drop  the  correspondence  of  the 
Franklin  Association  for  the  present. 

Before  adjourning,  Buckner  H.  Payne  was  directed  to 
call  on  the  former  clerk,  James  French,  and  demand  all  the 
books  and  papers  of  the  Association.  They  then  adjourned, 
to  meet  for  the  last  time  as  an  Association,  at  Somerset 
meeting-house,  on  the  fourth  Saturday  in  July,  1831. 

It  was  during  this  meeting  at  Spencer  that  John  Taylor 
appeared  as  a  vender  of  his  book,  called  Campbellism  Ex- 
posed. He  had  not  come  as  a  Corresponding  Messenger, 
for,  of  all  men,  he  had  the  least  sympathy  with  the  great 
brotherhood  that  had  assembled  at  Spencer's  Creek.  His 
business  was  to  sell  his  pamphlet — not,  it  seems,  from  any 
desire  to  injure  his  brethren,  but  to  raise  the  means  to 
pay  for  its  publication.  Covered  with  the  dust  of  a  long 
ride,  and  carrying  his  saddle-bags,  which  were  stuffed  with 
copies  of  his  little  book,  he  approached  John  Smith,  and 
said  to  him : 

"  Brother  John,  you  have  a  bigger  voice  and  more  assur- 
ance than  any  one  I  know  here ;  so  I  would  like  to  get 
you  to  announce  from  the  stand  that  I  have  with  me  for 
sale  the  Expose  of  Campbellism" 

"Brother  Taylor,"  said  Smith,  "you  know  that  I  told 
you,  more  than  a  week  ago,  at  Brother  Bullock's,  that  your 
pamphlet  contained  many  erroneous  statements,  and,  par- 
ticularly, that  you  did  William  Morton  great  injustice. 


HE  ADVERTISES  AN  OPPONENTS  BOOK.          363 

This,  you  know,  I  stated  to  you  at  the  time.  Now,  I  do 
think  it  is  wrong  for  you  to  circulate  such  a  document,  and 
it  would  be  wrong  for  me  to  advertise  it  for  you.  I  care 
nothing  for  what  you  have  said  about  me — it  gives  me 
not  the  least  concern ;  but,  certainly,  you  will  not  continue 
to  misrepresent  so  good  a  man  as  William  Morton." 

"  I  do  n't  intend  to  publish  any  more  copies,"  said  Taylor, 
who,  of  course,  was  not  convinced  of  doing  any  one  in- 
justice. 

"  Well,"  said  Smith,  "  if  I  advertise  it  at  your  request,  I 
will  tell  the  people  what  I  think  of  it." 

"That  is  what  I  expected  you  would  do,  anyhow,"  said 
Taylor,  and  he  passed  on  through  the  crowd. 

At  a  suitable  moment,  John  Smith  went  upon  the 
stand,  where  sat  Elder  Thomas  Campbell,  the  Creaths, 
and  others,  and  holding  up  a  copy  of  the  book  in  sight  of 
the  people,  he  said,  in  a  voice  that  filled  the  grove  where 
they  sat: 

"I  hold  in  my  hand  a  pamphlet,  called  Campbellism 
Exposed,  written  by  Elder  John  Taylor,  who  is  now  present. 
He  requests  me  to  say  to  you  that  he  has  this  book  for 
sale,  and  wishes  you  to  buy  at  least  enough  copies  to  pay 
for  the  printing. 

"  Now,  friends,  I  have  read  every  word  of  this  book  care- 
fully, and  of  nearly  every  incident  alluded  to  I  have  some 
personal  knowledge.  As  I  have  said  to  Brother  Taylor, 
so  I  now  say  to  you :  it  does  injustice  to  facts  throughout ! 
Particularly  does  it  misrepresent  the  amiable  William 
Morton,  as  I  tried  to  show  to  the  author  himself  a  few 
days  ago.  What  he  has  written  concerning  me,  I  care 
nothing  about.  You  may  read  it,  and  then  think  just 
what  you  please.  But  it  is  wrong  to  write,  sell,  or  circu- 
late a  book  so  full  of  mistakes  as  this ;  for  I  do  aver,  that 
if  all  that  is  erroneous  were  cut  out  of  it,  there  would  not 


364  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

be  enough  left  in  any  part  of  it  to  make  a  thumb-paper  for 
a  child." 

"I  thank  you,  Brother  Smith,  for  your  recommenda- 
tion," said  John  Taylor ;  for  he  was  present,  and  heard  it 

"  You  are  welcome  to  it,  Brother  Taylor,"  he  replied. 


ELKHORN  ASSOCIATION.  365 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

The  Elkhorn  Association  of  1830 — Fate  of  the  Creaths  and  Hewitt  sealed — 
Franklin  complains  and  threatens — Clear  Creek  bewails  her  Condition — 
Rights  and  Privileges  of  Associations — Creath  and  Hewitt^  take  refuge  in 
other  Congregations — Rule  of  Apportionment  disregarded — Association  at 
Silas — Reading  of  Letters — Great  Excitement — Creath  and  Vardeman — 
Thomas  S.  Bronston  confronts  the  opposition — Quiet  restored — Excitement 
renewed — Thomas  Campbell  and  John  Smith — Surplus  Messengers  with- 
drawn— Complaints  of  Clear  Creek  taken  up — Church  at  Versailles  and  that 
at  Providence  dropped — South  Elkhorn  charged,  and  a  Committee  appointed 
to  confer  with  her — Baptist  Usages — Jacob  Creath,  sen. — His  Eloquence  at 
Silas — John  Smith  addresses  the  Meeting — His  Argument  ineffectual — He  is 
rejected  as  a  Messenger,  and  the  Goshen  Calvinists  admitted. 

THE  ELKHORN  ASSOCIATION  usually  met  on  the  second 
Saturday  in  August,  and  the  time  was  now  near  at  hand. 
The  leading  Calvinists,  like  those  of  the  North  District, 
were  resolved  to  bear  with  heresy  and  heretics  no  longer. 
The  fate  of  such  men  as  Jacob  Creath,  jr.,  and  Josephus 
Hewitt  was,  therefore,  sealed ;  and  even  Jacob  Creath,  sen., 
could  not  hope  to  live  in  peace  with  his  old  comrades  any 
longer.  He  was  still  a  member  at  Versailles,  and  if  broth- 
erly love  could  have  shielded  him  from  the  devices  of  his 
enemies,  he  would  have  been  safe  in  the  bosom  of  that 
devoted  church.  But  the  strong  arm  of  clerical  power 
reached  him  even  there.  The  Franklin  Association  had 
declared  that  she  would  drop  her  correspondence  with 
Elkhorn,  if  the  Creaths,  or  the  churches  that  sustained 


366  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

them,  should  be  kept  any  longer  in  her  connection ;  and, 
as  we  have  seen,  she  had  already  preferred  charges  against 
them  for  their  course  at  South  Benson. 

But  it  was  more  especially  the  distresses  of  the  church 
at  Clear  Creek  that  stirred  every  orthodox  heart  with  pity, 
and  moved  the  Association  to  punish  the  destroyers  of  her 
peace.  The  conduct  of  the  Creaths  in  organizing  into  a 
church,  on  the  Bible  alone,  those  who  had  refused  to  live 
under  a  human  constitution,  was  ground  enough,  they 
thought,  for  dealing  with  them  and  the  church  to  which 
they  belonged. 

Following  the  advice  of  John  Taylor,  Clear  Creek  had 
appointed  a  committee  to  treat  with  the  Creaths  for  "the 
disorder  of  advising  and  setting  up  another  church  in  her 
meeting-house,  and  for  railing  out  against  her  Constitu- 
tion." After  an  unsatisfactory  interview,  the  committee 
publicly  accused  them  before  the  church  at  Versailles.  But 
that  church  postponed  the  trial,  and  called  for  a  committee 
of  helps  from  South  Elkhorn,  Providence,  and  Lexington. 
This  course  greatly  offended  the  Clear  Creek  brethren ; 
for,  as  they  alleged,  "  two  of  those  very  churches  were  as 
far  gone  in  the  fatal  delusions  of  Alexander  Campbell  as 
Versailles  herself,"  and  they  resolved  to  lay  the  whole 
matter  before  the  Association,  on  the  ground  that  Ver- 
sailles had  not  offered  that  satisfaction  which  was  due  to 
a  sister  church.  In  her  letter  to  Elkhorn,  Clear  Creek 
thus,  in  effect,  bewails  her  distracted  condition: 

We  have  lived,  brethren,  to  see  our  Zion  languish,  and  be 
moan  herself  in  sackcloth  and  ashes!     "O,  that  our  heads  were 
waters,  and  our  eyes  a  fountain  of  tears,  that  we  might  weep  day 
and  night  over  the  slain  of  the  daughters  of  our  people !"  .     .     . 

We  attribute  all  our  distress  to  the  pernicious  influence  of  the 
heretical  sentiments  of  Alexander  Campbell!  But  the  principal 
authors  of  our  trouble  are  our  brethren,  Jacob  Creath,  sen.,  and 


POWERS  OF  AN  ASSOCIATION.  367 

Jacob  Creath,  jr.,  whose  conduct  toward  this  church  has  been 
such  that  we  are  unwilling  to  recognize  either  them  or  the 
church  to  which  they  belong,  as  entitled  to  our  confidence  or 

fellowship 

Dear  brethren,  we  are  the  same  in  sentiment  as  when  we  first 
had  a  seat  among  you.  We  have  never  changed;  arid  we  de- 
sire no  change,  except  to  be  more  like  the  dear  Redeemer.  As 
such,  we  call  upon  you  to  answer :  Will  you  cause  us  to  abandon 
you  by  continuing  in  your  connection  those  who  have  attempted 
to  destroy  us? 

It  had  been  already  announced  by  John  Taylor,  that 
Elkhorn,  when  convened  at  Silas,  would  certainly  exclude 
the  Creaths ;  and  it  seemed  now  to  be  the  plan  of  the 
creed-men  to  cut  off  the  church  at  Versailles  in  order  to 
reach  them, 

In  the  meantime,  the  rights  and  powers  of  a  Baptist 
Association  came  up  continually  for  discussion.  In  the 
language  of  the  anti-creed  men,  "  The  horns  of  the  beast 
increased  in  power,  and  grew  more  and  more  wanton  every 
day."  While  some  maintained  that  no  individual  could 
rightfully  be  held  to  answer  before  an  Association,  unless 
for  a  breach  of  her  rules,  but  was  amenable  to  his  church, 
and  that  no  church  could  be  rightfully  cut  off,  save  for  a 
violation  of  the  Terms  of  Union,  on  complaint  made  by 
a  sister  church ;  yet,  others  claimed  that  an  Association 
had  a  right  not  only  to  govern  herself,  but  to  say  who 
should  stay  in  her  communion.  An  old  decision  of  Elk- 
horn,  given,  perhaps,  in  1786,  was  quoted  to  sustain  the 
singular  position  that,  though  she  was  but  an  Advisory 
Council,  yet  any  church  that  should  refuse  to  take  her 
advice  must  be  excluded ! 

Assured  that  an  attempt  would  be  made  to  cast  out  the 
church  at  Versailles,  Josephus  Hewitt,  a  few  days  before 
the  meeting  of  the  Association,  withdrew  from  that  church, 


368  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

and  was  received  into  fellowship  at  South  Elkhorn.  He 
hoped,  by  this  step,  to  escape  ecclesiastical  censure  him- 
self, and,  at  the  same  time,  to  avert,  or  at  least  temper, 
the  blow  that  was  about  to  fall  on  Versailles.  Jacob 
Creath,  jr.,  knowing  that  he  was  specially  obnoxious  to 
the  clergy,  followed  his  example,  but  took  refuge  among 
his  brethren  at  Providence.  The  elder  Creath  was  left 
alone  at  Versailles.  Some  fondly  hoped  that  his  gray 
hairs,  and  his  forty  years*  service,  would  not  only  save  him 
from  oppression,  but  avert  the  wrath  of  his  enemies  from 
the  church  that  he  had  so  long  nourished  and  loved. 

The  second  Saturday  in  August  came.  Versailles, 
South  Elkhorn,  and  Providence,  persuaded  that  votes,  and 
not  arguments  or  entreaties,  would  avail  any  thing  in  the 
Association,  sent  ten  messengers  each,  instead  of  three, 
the  number  fixed  by  the  rule  of  apportionment  adopted  in 
1829.  This,  as  they  solemnly  declared,  they  did  in  self- 
defense,  claiming  it  to  be  their  constitutional  right  to  fol- 
low the  advice  of  the  Association  or  not,  as  they  pleased. 
They  remembered  John  Taylor's  words,  that  "the  Creaths 
may  expect  to  face  a  charge  at  Silas !  They  may  fancy 
that  a  few  can  hoodwink  the  many,  as  was  done  last  year 
by  means  of  their  large  representation  ;  but  Elkhorn  has 
now  guarded  that  point,  so  that  the  three  churches  which 
last  year  had  twenty-four  votes  will  this  year  have  but 
ten." 

In  a  grove  near  Silas  meeting-house,  the  messengers  of 
the  twenty-three  churches  of  Elkhorn  assembled.  Elder 
Gates,  of  Paris,  delivered  an  appropriate  address  from 
John  xiii  135,  "By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  you  are  my 
disciples,  if  you  have  love  one  for  another?  Thomas  Bul- 
lock, the  former  Moderator,  presided,  and  Benjamin  S. 
Chambers,  assisted  by  Jacob  Creath,  jr.,  still  acted  as  Clerk. 
The  letters  from  the  several  churches  were  presented  by 


MEETING  AT  SILAS.  369 

their  messengers,  at  a  stand  about  a  mile  from  the  meet- 
ing-house, and,  at  the  request  of  the  Clerk,  Jacob  Creath, 
jr.,  arose,  and  began  to  read  them  before  the  people.  He 
had  not  been  reading  long,  when  Jeremiah  Vardeman 
abruptly  called  him  to  order.  Regardless  of  the  interrup- 
tion, Creath  continued  to  read;  but,  again  and  again,  he 
was  assailed  by  cries  of  "  Order ! "  for  his  relentless  brother 
had  resolved  that  no  heretic  should  again  lift  up  his  head 
in  the  Elkhorn  Association.  Creath  persisted  in  reading, 
and  the  aid  of  the  Moderator  was  invoked  to  stop  him  ; 
but  neither  Moderator  nor  Clerk  saw  fit  to  interfere.  A 
tumult  arose,  which  the  voice  of  the  venerable  Lewis  Cor- 
bin  could  hardly  still.  Order,  however,  was  at  length  re- 
stored, and  Jacob  Creath  resumed  his  reading.  But  the 
very  sound  of  his  voice  seemed  to  awake  again  the  spirit 
of  confusion.  Vardeman  sprang  to  his  feet,  and,  with  his 
cane  in  his  hand,  lifted  up  his  arm  in  much  excitement, 
and  exclaimed  :  "  Brother  Moderator,  I  must,  and  I  will  be 
heard ! "  At  that  word,  Thomas  Bronston,  pushing  his 
way  through  the  crowd,  hastily  mounted  the  stage,  and  ex- 
claimed :  "Now  you  can  read,  Brother  Creath  ;  /am  here!" 
The  scene  became  more  and  more  disgraceful ;  for  the 
crowd  grew  noisy  and  demonstrative.  At  last,  the  Mod- 
erator, fearing  a  riot,  requested  Jacob  Creath  to  desist,  and 
let  the  Clerk  read  the  letters  ;  the  floor  was  yielded,  and 
the  tumult  ceased. 

In  due  time  the  messengers  repaired  to  the  meeting- 
house, where  the  Association  was  organized  by  the  elec- 
tion of  William  Suggett,  Moderator,  and  Uriel  B.  Chambers, 
Clerk.  But  the  spirit  of  strife,  which  had  been  quelled  in 
the  grove,  was  soon  revived  in  the  house.  All  the  churches, 
save  the  three  already  named,  had,  in  sending  their  mes- 
sengers, conformed  to  the  rule  of  apportionment.  Accord- 
ing to  that  rule,  South  Elkhorn  should  have  sent  but  three, 


37°  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

but,  to  the  surprise  of  her  sister  churches,  Josephus  Hew- 
itt had  come  forward,  leading  a  delegation  of  ten  brethren, 
and  presenting  a  letter  from  that  church,  setting  forth  her 
reasons  for  not  reducing  the  number  of  her  messengers ! 
Versailles,  also,  though  entitled  to  but  three,  had  sent 
Jacob  Creath,  sen.,  and  nine  others.  But  that  which  most 
aroused  the  anger  of  the  opposition,  was  the  appearance  of 
Jacob  Creath,  jr.,  as  a  messenger  from  the  church  at  Prov- 
idence, accompanied  by  nine  others,  nearly  all  of  whom 
were  known  to  be  sternly  opposed  to  creeds  and  clerical 
authority ! 

The  question  was  soon  raised  whether  these  supernu- 
merary messengers  should  be  allowed  to  sit  in  the  Associ- 
ation. The  wrangling  was  sharp  and  protracted,  and  the 
assembly  at  last  become  more  like  an  Ephesian  mob,  than 
a  Baptist  Association.  John  Smith,  who  had  looked  on 
the  turbulent  scenes  of  the  day  with  painful  emotions, 
arose,  and  begged  his  brethren  from  the  non-conforming 
churches  to  withdraw  their  surplus  messengers,  and  thereby 
avoid  offense  and  misconstruction.  The  venerable  Thomas 
Campbell,  too,  was  present,  but  his  patriarchal  head  was 
bowed  with  sorrow.  Like  a  wise  father,  he,  too,  urged  the 
messengers  to  withdraw.  The  advice  of  these  prudent 
men  was  followed,  and  the  sun  of  that  stormy  day  went 
down  in  peace ! 

But  on  Monday  the  irrepressible  strife  arose  again.  On 
the  complaint  of  Clear  Creek,  and  of  the  Franklin  Associ- 
ation, against  Versailles,  that  "  she  held  in  her  membership 
preachers  that  had  taken  part  in  constituting  minorities  of 
churches  that  had  departed  from  the  Faith  and  Constitu- 
tion of  the  body,"  on  motion  of  Jeremiah  Vardeman,  it 
was  resolved : 

i.  That  the  church  at  Versailles  be  dropped  from  further  cor- 
respondence with  this  Association. 


VERSAILLES  AND  PROVIDENCE.  3/1 

2.  That  the  church  at  Providence  be  dropped  from  further 
correspondence  with  this  Association  for  non-conformity  to  the 
rules,  and  for  receiving  into  her  membership  a  preacher,  Jacob 
Creath,  jr.,  who  has  in  faith  and  practice  departed  from  her 
Constitution,  and  who  has  taken  part  in  constituting  minorities 
who  also  have  thus  departed. 

It  was  also  voted,  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  con- 
fer with  the  church  at  South  Elkhorn,  relative  to  certain 
grievances  entertained  against  her  for  having  departed 
from  the  faith  and  Constitution  of  this  Association,  and 
for  having  disregarded  her  rule  relative  to  an  equal  appor- 
tionment of  representatives  in  this  body  ;  and  the  commit- 
tee were  instructed  to  report  at  the  next  Association. 

It  is  but  just  to  say,  in  reference  to  these  proceedings, 
that  no  church  had  ever  made  known,  either  to  Versailles 
or  Providence,  any  matter  of  complaint  against  them. 
Clear  Creek  complained  of  Versailles,  it  is  true  ;  but  she 
complained  to  the  Elkhorn  Association  only,  and  the  ac- 
cusation's of  that  church  were  admitted  on  no  other  testi- 
mony whatever.  The  church  at  Providence  had  not  been 
accused ;  for  the  charge  on  which  she  was  cut  off  was  pre- 
ferred by  the  very  Association  that  judged,  condemned, 
and  excommunicated  her !  The  special  ground  on  which 
that  church  was  excluded,  was  her  reception  of  Jacob 
Creath,  jr.,  into  her  fellowship,  and  the  Association  thus 
usurped  the  right  to  decide  who  should  be  received  or  re- 
jected as  a  member  of  an  independent  congregation  ! 

The  right  to  decide  whether  any  individual  has  departed 
in  faith  and  practice  from  the  faith,  was,  according  to 
Baptist  doctrine,  inherent  in  the  church  to  which  he 
belonged  ;  yet  the  Association  assumed  the  right  to  declare 
that  Jacob  Creath,  jr.,  had  so  departed,  and  proceeded  to 
cast  out  the  church  to  which  he  belonged  for  presuming  to 
receive  him  into  fellowship. 


372  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

According  to  Baptist  usage,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Arrangement  simply  to  report  the  order  in  which 
business,  already  properly  introduced,  should  be  taken  up  ; 
but  that  Committee,  on  their  own  responsibility,  arraigned 
for  trial,  by  the  Association,  three  independent  churches — 
an  act  which  could  have  been  lawfully  done  only  by  a 
sister  church. 

But  the  course  of  the  Association  toward  Providence,  in 
condemning  her  for  non-conformity  to  the  rule  of  appor- 
tionment, was  harsh,  even  supposing  that  rule  to  have 
been  proper  and  binding  on  the  churches;  for,  though 
Providence  had  sent  ten,  instead  of  three  messengers,  yet 
the  surplus  was  withdrawn  on  Saturday,  even  before  they 
had  voted,  or  in  any  other  way  influenced  the  action  of  the 
Association ;  withdrawn,  too,  in  order  to  conform  to  the 
rule  of  apportionment,  at  the  request  of  brethren,  and  for 
the  sake  of  peace.  It  was  certainly  contrary  to  Baptist 
usage,  also,  to  arraign  a  church — the  oldest  one,  too,  in  the 
connection — upon  so  loose  and  ill-defined  a  statement  as 
that "  she  was  as  far  gone  in  the  fatal  delusions  of  Alexander 
Campbell  as  Versailles  " ! 

To  all  these  proceedings,  Jacob  Creath,  sen.,  replied  as 
only  he  could  have  done.  His  defense  was  regarded,  by 
those  who  heard  it,  as  the  ablest  speech  of  his  life.  They 
never  forgot  his  look  and  voice  and  manner  as  he  stood 
that  day  in  the  midst  of  his  enemies,  and  plead  with  them, 
not  to  be  merciful  or  indulgent,  but  for  their  own  sakes, 
and  for  the  honor  of  the  Christian  name,  to  proceed  ac- 
cording to  law  and  precedent,  saying,  that  if  he  or  the 
Versailles  church  had  violated  any  law,  human  or  divine, 
he  would  not  refuse  to  die.* 

Thomas  Campbell  said  that  he  had  listened  to  the  most 


•*  Life  of  Jacob  Creath,  sen.,  by  his  Nephew. 


CREATES  ELOQUENCE.  373 

distinguished  orators  in  Scotland  and  Ireland;  but  that 
Jacob  Creath's  defense  that  day  was  the  most  masterly 
piece  of  eloquence  he  had  ever  heard.  The  crowd  had 
pressed  into  the  house  until  aisles  and  galleries  were  filled, 
and  doors  and  windows  were  thronged  with  people.  Just 
as  Creath  was  about  to  conclude  his  address,  there  was 
heard  a  cry  that  the  gallery  was  falling ;  the  screams  of 
women,  the  rush  to  the  stairway,  down  which  men  fell  in 
frantic  confusion — instinctive  leaps  for  the  doors  and  the 
windows,  created  a  scene  that  beggars  description.  But 
the  alarm  proved  groundless,  and,  in  due  time,  order  was 
restored.  Had  the  vote  been  at  that  moment  submitted 
to  the  people  who  had  heard  the  defense  of  Elder  Creath, 
there  would  have  been  but  one  voice — and  that  voice  would 
have  acquitted  him.  But,  as  one  of  their  own  party  de- 
clared, "speaking,  argument,  and  evidence  were  unneces- 
sary ;  for  they  had  made  up  their  opinion  before  they  came 
together." 

There  was  another  question,  however,  that  now  embar- 
rassed them.  John  Smith  had  been  sent  as  a  correspond- 
ing messenger  from  the  North  District  Association  ;  and, 
on  Saturday,  at  the  proper  hour,  he  had  presented  the  let- 
ter of  that  body,  with  a  copy  of  the  minutes  of  their  recent 
meeting  at  Spencer,  and,  also,  a  copy  of  the  Circular  Let- 
ter. At  the  same  time,  Reuben  McDannold  and  others 
appeared  as  corresponding  messengers  from  the  Council 
that  had  met  at  Goshen,  and  which  also  claimed  to  be  the 
North  District  Association.  The  question  now  arose, 
"  Which  body  of  Baptists  shall  be  recognized  by  Elkhorn 
as  the  North  District  Association  ?  Shall  John  Smith,  or 
Reuben  McDannold,  be  invited  to  sit  with  us  ? "  When 
the  discussion  came  on,  it  was  apparent  that  Smith  had 
already  been  prejudged;  but  he  asked  to  be  heard,  and 


374  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

the  Association  lent  him  an  impatient  ear  for  a  few  mo- 
ments. He  said : 

Brother  Moderator,  if  any  of  the  eighteen  churches  which  I 
have  the  honor  to  represent  in  this  meeting  have  departed,  in 
any  single  instance,  from  our  Constitution,  as  alleged,  I  beg 
these  messengers  from  Goshen  to  point  out  the  article  which  has 
been  violated,  and  to  name  the  church  which  has  been  guilty  of 
such  violation. 

If  the  neglect,  on  the  part  of  North  District  Association, 
in  1827,  to  notice  the  letter  of  Lulbegrud,  which  complained  of 
departures  from  Baptist  customs,  was  a  violation  of  our  Consti- 
tution, then  these  same  brethren  from  Goshen  are  responsible  for 
it ;  for  they  did  not  see  proper  to  notice  the  complaint  of  that 
church. 

If,  in  1829,  at  Unity,  when  similar  complaints  were  made, 
the  Association  again  violated  her  Constitution  by  refusing  to 
attend  to  those  complaints,  it  was  because  these  same  brethren 
from  Goshen  opposed  all  investigation,  while  I  and  those  with 
me  urged  it  upon  them  as  a  matter  of  justice  to  the  accused. 

Brother  Moderator,  we  can  not  consent  to  be  bound  by  cus- 
toms and  usages  that  the  Word  of  God  does  not  authorize.  If, 
then,  these  brethren  from  Goshen  have  withdrawn  from  us  on 
that  account,  they,  and  not  we,  have  disregarded  the  Terms  of 
the  General  Union,  for  those  Terms  expressly  declare  that  the 
Scriptures  are  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice  among  us  ! 

But,  brethren,  the  Constitution  of  North  District,  as  well  as 
that  of  Elkhorn,  declares  that  all  questions  shall  be  determined 
by  the  will  of  the  majority.  Here,  then,  we  tender  to  you  a 
letter  from  eighteen  churches,  comprising  an  aggregate  mem- 
bership of  nearly  fourteen  hundred  brethren — more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  Association ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  these 
brethren  from  Goshen  are  here  with  some  communication  for 
you  from  a  small  withdrawing  minority  of  our  churches.  Should 
you  deny  our  Associational  rights,  and  reject  us,  you  would  not 
only  violate  your  own  Constitution,  but  the  plainest  principles 
of  justice  and  propriety. 


BROTHERLY  LOVE.  375 

But  this  straightforward  argument  had  no  effect  upon 
an  Association  that,  in  the  excitement  of  the  hour,  had 
laid  aside  the  character  of  an  advisory  council,  and  assumed 
that  of  an  authoritative  hierarchy.  They  said,  in  their 
reply  to  Smith : 

Whereas,  it  appears  that  two  communications  from  North 
District  have  been  sent  to  this  Association,  showing  that  a  split 
has  taken  place  in  that  body, 

Jtesolved,  therefore,  That  the  ten  churches  which  met  in 
council  at  Goshen  meeting-house,  on  the  fourth  Saturday  in 
June,  1830,  and  in  their  minutes  declare  that  the  rest  of  the 
churches  have  departed  from  her  Constitution  in  faith  and 
practice,  be  recognized  as  the  North  District  Association,  and 
that  our  correspondence  be  continued  with  them  as  heretofore. 

Finally,  this  remarkable  session  of  the  Elkhorn  Associ- 
ation, which  began  with  the  excellent  discourse  of  Elder 
Gates,  on  Brotherly  Love,  closed  with  the  adoption  of  a 
Circular  Letter  which  enlarged  on  the  same  theme — the 
entire  Association  joining  with  the  Psalmist  in  the  exclar 
mation:  "Behold  how  good  and  pleasant  a  thing  it  is  for 
brethren  to  dwell  together  in  unity " ! 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

Tate's  Creek  Calvinists  meet  at  Viny  Fork  in  1830 — Their  Fulmination  against 
Josiah  Collins  and  others — Assume  the  name  of  the  Tate's  Creek  Association, 
and  exclude  the  Reformers — Their  Protest  against  Heresy — Reply  of  the 
Reformers — Regular  Session  of  Tate's  Creek  Association  at  Otter  Creek — 
Jacob  Creath  sen.  charged  as  ineligible  to  address  the  Meeting — John  Smith 
defends  him,  and  exposes  the  Course  of  Elkhorn — They  both  address  the 
People — Resolutions  against  Elkhorn  passed — Smith  at  Cumberland  River 
Association — Bracken  Affairs — Great  Meeting  of  Reformers  at  Mayslick — • 
Protest  of  the  Calvinists — Church  divides — Bracken  Association  meets  at 
Washington — They  reject  the  Reformers — Curious  Protest — Bethel  Church 
divides — Reformers  of  North  District  rejected — Calvinists  of  Goshen  admit- 
ted— Circular  Letter — Walter  Warder  and  William  Vaughn. 

THE  victory  gained  by  the  Reformers  at  Red  Lick,  Mad- 
ison County,  in  1829,  during  the  session  of  the  Tate's 
Creek  Association,  was  decisive  ;  but  the  minority,  now 
following  the  example  of  the  Calvinists  of  Goshen,  met  at 
Viny  Fork,  in  June,  1830,  to  consider,  not  how  they  might 
reclaim,  but  how  they  might  exclude,  their  erring  breth- 
ren. 

They  drew  up  a  Protest  against  the  teaching  of  Josiah 
Collins,  Oliver  C.  Steele,  Thomas  S.  Bronston,  and  others, 
which  they  published  abroad  among  the  churches.  From 
that  document  we  make  the  following  extracts : 

A  number  of  our  brethren  in  the  ministry,  professing  to  teach 
the  Ancient  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  are,  more  or  less, 
holding  forth  the  following  unscnptural  doctrines,  viz. : 


TATE'S  CREEK  PROTESTS.  Z77 

1.  That  there  is  no  promise  of  salvation  without  baptism,  and 
that  it  should  be  administered  to  all  who  say  they  believe  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God,  without  examination  on  any 
other  point; 

2.  That  there  is  no  direct  operation  of  the  Spirit  on  the  mind 
prior  to  baptism ; 

3.  That  baptism  procures  the  remission  of  sins  and  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Spirit ;      VwV 

4.  That  the  Scriptures  are  the  only  evidence  of  interest  in 
Christ ; 

5.  That  obedience  places  it  in  God's  power  to  elect  to  salva- 
tion ; 

6.  That  no  Creed  is  necessary  for  the  churches,  but  the  Scrip- 
tures as  they  stand ; 

7.  That  all  baptized  persons  have  the  right  to  administer  that 
ordinance ; 

8.  That  there  is  no  special  call  to  the  ministry ; 

9.  That  the  law  given  by  God  to  Moses  is  abolished ; 
10.  That  experimental  religion  is  enthusiasm  ;  and 

n.  That  there  is  no  mystery  in  the  Scriptures  ! 

Painful  as  it  is,  we  feel  it  to  be  a  duty  which  we  owe  to  our 
Master,  to  our  brethren,  to  the  rising  generation,  and  to  our- 
selves, as  professed  followers  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  in- 
form you,  that  brethren  T.  S.  Bronston,  Josiah  Collins,  J.  R. 
Pond,  F.  Shoot,  O.  C.  Steele,  and  Samuel  Willis,  have,  in  their 
public  exhibitions,  held  forth  some  of  the  above  and  other  views 
which  we  think  are  inconsistent  with  the  Gospel ;  for,  by  them, 
some  of  us  have  seen  Associations  thrown  into  commotion, 
churches  divided,  neighbor  made  to  speak  evil  of  neighbor, 
brother  arrayed  against  brother,  the  father  against  the  son,  and 
the  daughter  against  the  mother.  These  are  some  of  the  sad 
effects  of  their  Reformation  !  Now,  as  we  are  commanded  to 
mark  them  which  cause  divisions  and  offenses  contrary  to  the 
doctrines  which  we  have  learned,  and  avoid  them,  we  enter  our 
Protest  against  those  brethren,  and  all  who  adhere  to  and  advo- 
cate any  of  the  above  views  contrary  to  our  Constitution. 

32 


378  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

We  intend  to  have  no  controversy,  but  to  remain  as  we  are, 
the  Ta/e's  Creek  Association  of  United  Baptists ;  and  we  now 
invite  our  brethren  and  sisters  who  feel  willing  to  stand  with  us, 
to  meet  us  at  Providence  meeting-house,  in  the  county  of  Madi- 
son, on  the  Friday  before  the  third  Saturday  in  July  next. 

On  that  day  about  thirty-five  delegates,  from  ten  of  the 
twenty-six  churches  of  the  Association,  met,  and  were  en- 
rolled at  New  Providence,  as  supporters  of  the  old  Consti- 
tution ;  they  then  adjourned  to  meet  again  at  Round  Top, 
on  the  fourth  Saturday  in  August,  inviting  all  that  ap- 
proved the  stand  which  they  had  taken  against  Campbell- 
ism  to  attend  with  them. 

They  met  on  the  appointed  day,  and  though  but  nine 
churches  were  represented,  they  called  themselves  the 
Tates  Creek  Association,  and  resolved  unanimously  to  drop 
their  correspondence  with  every  Association  and  church 
that  tolerated  the  heresy  of  Campbellism  ! 

Thus  it  was,  that  while  John  Smith  had  been  ostracised 
by  a  few  churches  of  North  District  for  innovation,  and 
the  Creaths  had  been  cut  off  from  Elkhorn  for  schism,  Jo- 
siah  Collins  and  his  brethren  were  excluded  by  Tate's 
Creek  for  heresy! 

In  the  meantime,  those  brethren  who  had  been  pub- 
lished in  the  Protest  as  heretics,  drew  up  a  reply,  which 
they  put  forth  in  a  pamphlet  of  twelve  pages,  in  substance 
as  follows : 

The  charges  that  have  been  brought  against  us  may  be  found 
in  the  Minutes  of  the  Franklin  Association,  and  in  the  Baptist 
Chronicle,  as  well  as  in  the  bull  of  excommunication  now  is- 
sued against  us. 

i.  " That  there  is  no  salvation  without  baptism. "  We  answer: 
Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  the  Spirit,  he  can  not  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  God  !  This  kingdom  we  understand  to  be 
the  church  militant,  and  not  the  church  triumphant.  We  are 


REPLY  OF  THE  REFORMERS.  379 

of  opinion  that  all  who  conscientiously  love  and  serve  the  Lord, 
will  be  saved ;  and,  we  may  add,  we  believe  that  all  infants  and 
idiots,  and  many  Jews  and  Pagans,  will  be  saved  without  baptism. 

2.  "  That  baptism  should  be  administered  to  all  who  say  they  be- 
lieve that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God,  without  examination  on 
any  other  point '."     We  answer,  that  no  person  should  be  baptized 
on  such  a  confession,  unless  he  believes  with  the  heart  on  the 
Lord  Jesus.     But  to  be  more  plain,  if  possible — for  we  desire 
to  give  you  satisfaction — there  must  be  a  turning  about  from 
the  love  of  sin  to  the  love  of  holiness ;  we  must  repent  of  our 
sins  and  turn  to  God  with  full  purpose  of  heart ;  the  old  man  must 
be  crucified ;  we  must  become  dead  to  the  world  and  alive  to 
holiness ;  such  is  our  faith. 

3.  "77iat  there  is  no  direct  operation  of  the  Spirit  on  the  mind 
prior  to  baptism"    We  answer,  that  the  religion  of  Jesus  is  spirit- 
ual, and  not  natural ;  and  that  our  whole  nature  is  in  opposition 
to  it.     It  is,  therefore,  through  a  spiritual  communication  that 
•we  are  enabled  to  believe  on  our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ. 
This  communication  is  directed  to  the  mind  whilst  in  a  state  of 
rebellion.     The  mind  lays  hold  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus; 
the  soul  realizes  a  change  in  its  feelings,  desires  and  anticipa- 
tions ;  the  bars  of  unbelief  are  broken ;  he  is  no  longer  a  slave 
sold  under  sin ;  but,  through  faith  and  obedience,  becomes  an 
heir  of  God,  and  a  joint  heir  with  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  is 
made  to  rejoice  in  the  prospect  of  a  better  world. 

4.  "  That  baptism  procures  the  remission  of  sins,  and  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost."     We  answer,  that  baptism,  abstractly  consid- 
ered, is  worth  nothing ;  but,  when  connected  with  faith  and  the 
blood  of  Jesus,  which  cleanseth  from  all  sin,  it  is  the  act  through 
which  we  become  disciples. 

5.  "That  the  Scriptures  are  the  only  evidence  of  interest  in 
Christ"     We  answer,  that  every  disciple  has  the  witness  within 
himself,  and  has  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelling  in  him  ;  for  our 
bodies  are  represented  as  temples  for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  dwell 
in.     But  the  Scriptures  are  the  proper  rule  by  which  we  should 
measure  ourselves. 


380  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

6.  "  That  obedience  places  it  in  God's  power  to  elect  to  salva- 
tion."    We  answer,  that  we  are  elected  through  the  sanctifica- 
tion  of  the.  Spirit  and  the  belief  of  the  truth. 

7.  "  That  no  creed  is  necessary  for  the  church  but  the  Scriptures 
as  they  stand."     All  confessions  of  faith  warrant  us  in  this;  for 
they  declare  that  the  Scriptures  are  to  be  the  supreme  standard 
by  which  all  controversies  in  religion  are  to  be  determined. 
But  why,  then,  it  may  be  asked,  are  we  in  favor  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  Tate's  Creek  Association,  seeing  it  is  merely  hu- 
man ?     We   answer,    there   is  a  great   difference  between  the 
church  of  God  and  an  Association.     The  one  is  a  number  of 
disciples  called  out  from  the  world,  acknowledging  one  Lord, 
one  faith,  one  baptism,  and  one  Spirit  which  animates  the  one 
body  or  church,  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  head  of  the 
body,  and  the  Scriptures  of  Divine  Truth,  as  the  only  rule  of 
faith  and  practice.     Here  every  thing  is  complete  from  the  be- 
ginning.    Now,  what  is  an  Association  but  a  being  created  by 
the  churches,  and  consequently  dependent  upon  them  for  its  ex- 
istence ?     We  need  not  inform  you  that  every  body,  whether  it 
be  political  or  religious,  should  have  a  constitution  by  which  it 
should  be  governed,  in  order  to  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the 
society.     You  therefore  perceive  that  we  are  in  favor  of  a  consti- 
tution, whether  it  be  in  an  Association  or  in  a  State. 

8.  "That  all  baptized  persons  have  the  right  to  administer  the 
ordinance  of  baptism."     We  answer,  that  the  charge  is  untrue. 

9 .  "  That  there  is  no  special  call  to  the  ministry. ' '     We  answer, 
that  there  is  a  special  call  to  the  office  of  Bishop,  Overseer,  or 
Elder,  and  that  their  work,  as  well  as  the  qualifications  they 
should  possess,  is  clearly  laid  down  in  the  Scriptures. 

i  o.  "  That  the  law  given  by  God  to  Moses  is  abolished. ' '  Here 
we  desire  to  be  explicit :  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind ; 
and  thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  Now  we  conceive 
this  to  be  the  basis  of  all  law ;  and  that  we  are  under  it,  not 
because  it  belonged  to  the  Jews,  but  because  it  has  been  obli- 
gatory on  all  men,  and  is  particularly  enjoined  on  us  under  the 


REPLY  OF  THE  REFORMERS.  381 

reign  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  dispensation  under  which 
we  live,  is  a  gracious  one,  and  the  only  system  that  mankind  is 
under  for  justification,  is  the  system  of  grace,  which  is  the  effect 
of  the  atonement  made  by  Jesus  Christ.  Man  was  to  be  justi- 
fied meritoriously  before  his  fall.  Since  his  fall,  he  is  to  be 
justified  gratuitously  through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ 
Jesus  by  faith. 

11.  "That  experimental  religion  is  enthusiasm"    We  answer, 
that  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  teaches  no  such  thing  as  en- 
thusiasm; but  many  who  profess  his  religion  may  be  and  are 
enthusiasts,  no  doubt.     It  depends  much  on  his  teaching  what 
he  experiences.     If  he  is  taught  the  pure  principles  of  the  Gos- 
pel, he  will  grow  in  grace  and  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and 
will  experience  the  indwelling   of  the   Holy  Spirit.     If  he  is 
taught  mysteries,  and  is  made  to  believe  that  the  Gospel  has  no 
influence  on  the  mind,  then  his  experience  will  be  any  thing  but 
that  which  it  should  be.     In  fine,  if  he  is  Gospel  taught,  he 
will  have  a  Gospel  experience ;  if  he  is  systematized,  he  will 
have  a  corresponding  experience. 

12.  "  That  there  is  no  mystery  in  the  Scriptures. ' '    We  answer, 
that  the  plan  of  salvation  is  no  mystery ;  if  so,  who  is  author- 
ized to  unfold  it,  seeing  that  spiritual  gifts  have  ceased?     We 
acknowledge,  however,  that  there  are   many  sayings  in  both 
Testaments  which  we  do  not  understand. 

The  regular  session  of  the  Tate's  Creek  Association  for 
the  year  was  held  according  to  adjournment  at  Otter  Creek 
meeting-house,  Madison  County,  on  the  fourth  Saturday  in 
August.  Eighteen  churches,  some  of  which  were  still 
strongly  Calvinistic,  were  represented.  After  the  usual 
introductory  sermon  by  Joseph  R.  Pond,  Moses  Foley  was 
elected  Moderator,  and  John  Tribble  and  Thomas  H.  Chris- 
topher, Clerks.  On  Saturday,  while  they  were  balloting 
for  speakers,  according  to  custom,  to  address  the  people, 
some  one  charged  that  Jacob  Creath,  sen.,  who  was  pres- 
ent, and  whom  many  were  anxious  to  hear,  was  ineligible 


382  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

to  that  honor.  With  a  copy  of  the  Minutes  of  the  Elk- 
horn  Association  in  his  hand,  he  stood  up  and  contended 
that  it  would  be  wrong  to  give  such  an  honor  to  a  man 
whom  Elkhorn  had  excluded.  Much  debate  ensued.  John 
Smith  maintained  that  Jacob  Creath  was  worthy  of  all  that 
Tate's  Creek  could  bestow  ;  and  that  a  knowledge  of  facts 
would  leave  no  doubt  on  the  minds  of  the  messengers  that, 
according  to  both  Baptist  and  Christian  rule,  he  was 
constitutionally  qualified  to  meet  the  wishes  of  the  people 
on  Lord's  Day.  He  was  about  to  relate  some  of  the  inci- 
dents which  had  taken  place  at  Silas,  when  he  was  stopped 
by  the  Moderator,  and  ruled  to  be  out  of  order. 

"  Then,"  said  Smith,  who  was  determined  to  let  the  peo- 
ple know  all  that  Elkhorn  had  done  at  Silas,  "  if  you  will 
not  let  me  speak  here,  I  will  go  out  yonder  to  that  stump 
in  the  woods,  and  explain  the  whole  matter  to  the  people ; 
I  owe  that  much  to  Brother  Creath,  and  to  the  truth." 

The  Moderator  submitted  the  question  to  the  messen- 
gers, and  they  voted  that  he  should  tell  what  had  been 
done  ;  and  the  people  gathered  in  to  hear  him.  When  he 
had  concluded  his  narrative,  the  ballot  was  taken,  and  both 
Jacob  Creath  and  John  Smith  received  the  suffrages  of  the 
Association.  Having  thus  received  a  full  and  accurate 
account  of  the  proceedings  of  Elkhorn,  they  adopted  the 
following  preamble  and  resolutions  : 

Whereas,  we  understand  that  the  Elkhorn  Association,  at  her 
meeting  at  Silas,  did,  in  the  most  violent  and  unprecedented 
manner,  drop  from  her  correspondence  two  of  her  churches, 
Versailles  and  Providence,  without  having  either  notified  them 
or  attempted  to  prove  any  allegation  against  them,  and  without 
calling  on  said  churches  or  giving  them  an  opportunity  of  an- 
swering for  themselves;  and,  whereas,  the  said  Elkhorn  Asso- 
ciation did  recognize  the  refractory  minority  that  broke  off  from 
North  District  Association  in  the  most  disorderly  manner  :  now, 


MEETING   OF  REFORMERS  AT  MAY  SLICK.         383 

dear  "brethren,  seeing  such  a  lawless  stretch  of  Associational 
power, 

Resolved,  therefore,  that  we  suspend  our  correspondence  with 
said  Association  until  we  see  whether  the  churches  of  said  Associ- 
ation will  sanction  such  proceedings  on  the  part  of  their  messen- 
gers who  composed  that  body. 

Smith,  having  been  sent  as  a  corresponding  messenger 
to  the  Cumberland  River  Association,  which  met  at  Som- 
erset, in  Pulaski  County,  on  the  first  Saturday  in  Septem- 
ber, could  not  be  present  at  the  Bracken  Association,  which 
convened  on  the  same  day  in  the  town  of  Washington,  in 
Mason^County. 

Some  of  the  churches  of  Bracken,  anticipating  the  action 
of  the  Association^  had,  as  independent  bodies,  already 
taken  measures  to  rid  themselves  of  the  Reformers.  It 
seems  that  in  April  preceding  the  meeting  of  that  Associ- 
ation, a  notice  had  been  published  throughout  the  country 
that  a  three-days'  meeting  would  be  held  at  Mayslick,  on 
Friday  before  the  fifth  Lord's  Day  in  May,  and  all  brethren 
that  were  favorable  to  the  restoration  of  the  Ancient  Gos- 
pel, and  especially  the  public  teachers  among  them,  were 
earnestly  solicited  to  attend.  It  was  stated  in  the  notice, 
also,  that  John  Smith,  Jacob  Creath,  sen.,  Josiah  Collins, 
William  Morton,  Jacob  Creath,  jr.,  Josephus  Hewitt,  and 
other  teachers  named,  would  be  present.  Accordingly,  on 
that  day,  a  great  number  of  people  came  together. 

Alexander  Campbell,  who,  with  his  father,  Thomas  Camp- 
bell, was  with  the  brethren  on  that  occasion,  writing  to 
the  Millennial  Harbinger  (vol.  I,  page  238),  says : 

We  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  with  many  public,  bold,  and 
powerful  advocates  of  the  Reformation,  and  of  uniting  with  them 
in  prayers,  praise,  reading,  exhortation,  and  in  breaking  the 
symbolic  loaf.  It  was  a  very  happy  meeting,  and,  I  trust,  a 
very  profitable  one.  All  was  harmony,  Christian  affection,  and 


384  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

intense  zeal  for  the  purity,  peace,  and  union  of  the  disciples  on 
earth.  I  could  have  wished  that  all  the  opponents  of  the  An- 
cient Order  of  things  had  witnessed  this  meeting,  and  heard 
and  seen  all  that  passed.  .  .  .  The  brethren,  both 
public  and  private  (and  there  was  a  large  assemblage  of  them 
present),  parted  as  they  had  met,  in  the  strong  bands  of  Chris- 
tian affection,  with  increased  zeal  and  renewed  energy  in  the 
great  and  good  cause  of  emancipating  the  brotherhood  from  the 
deadly  influences  of  human  systems,  and  from  the  galling  yoke 
of  human  authority  in  the  kingdom  of  Immanuel. 

This  unauthorized  breaking  of  the  "symbolic  loaf"  of- 
fended many  of  the  Baptists  of  the  church  at  Mayslick,  a 
congregation  numbering,  at  that  time,  about  seven  Hundred 
persons  ;  and  they  resolved,  as  soon  as  practicable,  to  cast 
out  the  Reformers  from  their  fellowship.  They  accord- 
ingly drew  up  and  published  the  following  curious  protest 
and  resolution,  which  at  once  drove  every  man  to  his 
standard : 

Our  church  being  in  a  state  of  painful  confusion  resulting  from 
attempts  by  Alexander  Campbell  and  others  to  produce  a  reform- 
ation in  society,  as  they  have  been  in  the  habit  of  calling  it — 
among  other  things,  denying  the  direct  influence  of  the  Spirit  till 
after  baptism — contending  that  persons  professing  faith  in  Christ 
shall  be  baptized  for  the  purpose  of  actually  receiving  forgive- 
ness of  sins — denying,  and  rather  ridiculing,  what  we  call  Chris- 
tian experience,  in  part,  at  least;  namely,  a  burdened  heart  on 
account  of  sin,  and  a  sensible  manifestation  of  God's  pardoning 
mercy  by  faith  in  the  blood  of  Christ — slandering  the  Baptist 
society  by  saying  they  are  in  Babylon — against  which  sentiments, 
with  many  others  referred  to  by  them,  we  solemnly  protest. 
Also,  against  the  conduct  of  the  Campbells,  Creaths,  Smith,  and 
others,  who,  in  May,  undertook  to  administer  the  Supper  in 
our  meeting-house — a  number  of  our  brethren  joining  in  that 
thing  without  the  authority  of  the  church — some,  likely,  with- 
out thinking  of  the  wounds  and  distress  they  were  bringing  on 


MAYSLICK  PROTESTS.  385 

their  brethren.  Our  brethren,  a  number  of  them,  also,  have 
been  encouraging  preachers  to  occupy  our  meeting-house  that 
many  of  us  believe  to  be  Arians,  knowing  they  were  trampling 
on  our  feelings,  which  we  conceive  to  be  contrary  to  good  order. 
We  have  made  every  effort  to  place  them  and  us  on  ground  that 
we  can  live  in  some  degree  of  peace,  but  in  vain;  and  we  are 
now  compelled  to  adopt  the  following  resolution: 

That  all  of  us  whose  names  are  hereunto  subscribed,  protest- 
ing as  above  named  against  the  Reformation  (falsely  so  called), 
are  willing  and  determined  to  rally  round  the  original  consti- 
tution and  covenant  of  the  church,  which  has  never  been  dis- 
annulled— associating  therewith  the  principles  of  the  Union 
between  the  Regular  and  Separate  Baptists,  which  were  adopted 
by  the  Elkhorn  Association  when  this  church  was  a  member  of 
that  body,  and  according  to  which  we  have  acted  ever  since, 
which  is  a  fact  as  relates  to  Baptists  generally,  thereby  occupy- 
ing precisely  the  same  ground  we  did  before  the  confused  and 
confusing  system  of  things  that  has  destroyed  our  peace,  and  the 
peace  of  many  other  churches  among  us.  And  that  no  person 
shall  be  considered  a  member  of  this  church  who  will  refuse  to 
acknowledge  the  above  by  subscribing  their  names,  or  causing 
them  to  be  subscribed,  or  who  will  encourage  the  above-named 
Reformers. 

The  church  at  May  slick  having  thus  been  rent  in  twain, 
each  party  sent  letters  and  messengers  to  the  Association, 
and  claimed  to  be  the  original  church.  The  majority 
were  at  once  received  by  the  Association — not,  however, 
on  the  ground  that,  according  to  Baptist  usage,  the  ma- 
jority should  rule,  nor  because  the  conduct  or  the  creed 
of  the  minority,  who  were  Reformers,  was  unscriptural, 
but,  as  they  declared,  because  the  minority  had  embraced 
a  system  of  things  called  Reformation,  thereby  departing 
from  the  principles  of  the  United  Baptists,  and  of  that 
Association ! 

Bethel,  also,  a  church  in  the  same  ecclesiastical  connec- 
33 


386  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

tion,  having  divided,  each  party  claimed  to  be  the  original 
church,  and  sent  their  messengers  accordingly.  But  now, 
the  minority,  who  declared  that  they  stood  on  the  old  de- 
nominational platform,  were  received,  while  the  majority, 
who  professed  to  stand  on  Apostolic  ground,  were  rejected ! 
The  messengers  from  North  District  presented  their 
letter  also  to  the  Bracken  Association,  and  were  strenuous- 
ly withstood  by  the  delegation  from  Goshen,  who,  on  be- 
half of  their  brethren,  claimed  to  be  the  only  legitimate 
North  District  Association.  Bracken  did  not,  in  this  case, 
hesitate  to  decide  in  favor  of  the  minority.  She  said  : 

A  separation  having  taken  place  in  the  North  District,  pro- 
duced, as  we  believe  in  the  main,  by  the  common  evil  that  is 
destroying  the  Baptist  society : 

Resolved,  therefore,  That  the  ten  churches  which  met  at  Goshen, 
and  who  manifestly  stand  opposed  to  the  innovations  of  Mr. 
Campbell,  and  who  are  disposed  to  maintain  original  principles 
as  believed  and  practiced  by  our  society,  be  recognized  as  the 
North  District  Association,  and  that  our  correspondence  be  con- 
tinued with  them  as  heretofore. 

Bracken,  in  her  Circular  Letter  of  that  year,  said  : 

We  lament,  dear  brethren,  that  we  have  to  say  that  a  dark 
and  gloomy  cloud  overspreads  our  horizon,  unequaled  since  the 
establishment  of  the  Baptist  society  in  Kentucky.  Associations 
and  churches  are  dividing,  and,  of  course,  peace  and  harmony 
have  departed.  Our  meeting  has  in  some  respects  been  unpleas- 
ant, several  of  our  churches  having  separated,  and  each  party 
presenting  their  claim  to  be  the  original  church.  .  .  .  The 
manner  in  which  some  speak  concerning  the  divine  influence  of 
the  Spirit  on  the  human  heart ;  the  maki«g  baptism  the  regenerat- 
ing act,  and  the  actual  remission  of  sins  to  the  believer  in  baptism ; 
concerning  experimental  religion,  the  church  being  in  Babylon, 
etc.,  is  such  that  we  confess,  if  it  be  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and 
the  way  the  Lord  brings  sinners  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth, 


WARDER  AND    VAUGHN.  387 

we  have  it  yet  to  learn.  This  system  being  extensively  propa- 
gated by  the  Bethany  editor,  and  by  many  active  and  able  advo- 
cates, tending  to  produce  a  revolution  in  our  churches,  called 
forth  the  efforts  that  our  preachers  and  brethren  have  been  com- 
pelled to  use,  to  maintain,  not  mere  matters  of  opinion  indiffer- 
ent in  themselves,  but  the  grand  'fundamental  truths  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  resist  the  inroads  making  amongst  us. 
And  we  want  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  that,  so  far  as  we  know, 
none  of  the  preachers  or  churches  that  are  endeavoring  to  main- 
tain original  principles,  are  contending  for  any  thing  but  what  is 
common  among  the  Baptists. 

Such  were  the  words,  perhaps,  of  Walter  Warder  him- 
self, the  reputed  author  of  the  Circular,  who,  whatever  may 
have  been  the  grounds  for  once  hoping  that  he  would  fully 
espouse  the  cause  of  the  Reformation,  was  now  zealously 
endeavoring  to  overthrow  it.  William  Vaughn  also  with- 
stood the  progress  of  Reform,  and  at  last  succeeded  in  re- 
minding Bracken  that  she  was  the  daughter  of  Elkhorn, 
and  in  persuading  her  to  stand  dutiful  and  firm  by  the  ma- 
ternal side  of  that  ancient  and  orthodox  Association.  It 
was  generally  believed  that,  had  these  two  popular  minis- 
ters accepted  the  Ancient  Gospel,  Bracken,  like  North  Dis- 
trict, would  have  gone  almost  bodily  into  the  Reforma- 
tion. 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

x 

Boone's  Creek  Association  meets  at  Indian  Creek — Spirit  of  Goshen  prevails—- 
John Smith  accused — Endeavors  to  get  the  floor — Is  ordered  down — Finally 
is  allowed  to  explain — "  Tells  it  all  right  out " — Six  Churches  dropped — In- 
discreet Reformers  —  Legalism — The  Issue  —  Anecdote — J°hn  D.  Steele  — 
Smith  goes  to  his  relief — Plants  the  Cause  in  the  Green  River  Country- 
Church  at  Union,  in  Adair  County — Russell's  Creek  Association — Elder  John 
S.  Wilson — Smith  at  Columbia — At  Mt.  Gilead — At  Dripping  Springs — Elder 
Ralph  Petty — John  D.  Steele  excluded  from  Mt.  Pleasant — He  gathers  the 
Disciples. 

ON  the  third  Saturday  in  September,  1830,  the  Boone's 
Creek  Association  met  at  Indian  Creek,  in  Clark  County. 
The  six  churches  that,  one  year  before,  had  voted  to  change 
or  abolish  the  Constitution,  viz. :  Mt.  Zion,  Mt.  Union, 
Nicholasville,  Liberty,  Friendship,  and  Lower  Bethel,  or 
North  Middletown,  still  hoped  that  they  might  remain  in 
communion  with  their  brethren,  and  yet  be  free.  But,  when 
they  all  came  together,  it  appeared  that  the  spirit  of  Goshen 
would  prevail.  So  sure  were  the  indications  of  a  prescrip- 
tive temper,  that  some,  who  had  no  heart  for  contention,  and 
no  hope  of  any  reconciliation,  returned  home  on  Saturday 
in  despair. 

John  Smith  was  again  confronted  by  his  opponents,  and, 
although  an  accredited  Messenger  from  North  District,  was 
rejected  on  the  ground  that  he  represented  an  heretical  and 
disorderly  faction  of  that  body.  Nor  were  the  messengers 
from  Tate's  Creek  more  fortunate;  that  Association  was 


AMONG  THE  CALVINISTS  OF  BOONS' S  CREEK.     389 

adjudged  to  have  departed  from  her  Constitution,  and  her 
letter  also  was  refused.  The  question  was  soon  raised 
as  to  the  course  that  should  be  pursued  toward  the  six 
churches  that  had  expressed  dissatisfaction  with  the  Con- 
stitution, and  thus  virtually  denied  the  faith.  A  proposi- 
tion to  drop  them  from  correspondence  excited  turbulent 
debate,  in  the  course  of  which  a  certain  preacher  main- 
tained that  all  those  churches  had  been  led  astray  by  one 
man,  whose  bad  zeal  and  false  teaching  had  corrupted  many 
others  also.  He  set  forth  some  of  the  ruinous  doctrines 
"which,"  he  said,  "John  Smith  had  been  preaching  to  the 
people  of  North  Middletown,  and  to  other  communities, 
until  he  had  thrown  the  whole  country  into  a  blaze  of  ex- 
citement, and  desolated  many  of  the  churches  of  the  living 
God!" 

On  Monday,  after  William  Morton  and  others  had  with- 
drawn from  the  field  in  disgust  and  despair,  Smith,  who 
still  lingered  in  the  camp  of  the  enemy,  arose  and  respect- 
fully asked  for  permission  to  speak.  But  he  was  vocifer- 
ously ordered  to  take  his  seat.  Grown  familiar  with  these 
noisy  but  harmless  demonstrations,  he  stood  patiently  be- 
fore them  and  waited  for  silence.  The  Moderator,  seeing 
that  he  was  determined  to  speak,  said  to  him : 

"  Brother  Smith,  I  know  you  are  too  much  of  a  Chris- 
tian and  gentleman  to  speak  when  brethren  do  not  wish  to 
hear  you." 

"  But  what  sort  of  religion  or  courtesy -is  it,"  he  replied, 
"  that  falsely  accuses  a  brother,  and  then  rudely  denies  him 
the  privilege  of  speech  ? " 

"  Put  him  down  ! "  cried  many  voices  at  once. 

The  Moderator  remonstrated :  "  Brother  Smith,  you  see 
that  the  brethren  do  not  wish  to  hear  you." 

"  Will  you  not  allow  me,"  said  he,  "  even  to  give  a  reason 
why  I  ought  to  be  heard  ? 


39°  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"  Certainly,  you  may  do  that,  if  you  will  only  .be  brief." 

"  Well,  then,"  said  Smith,  "  instead  of  the  doctrine  which 
the  brother  on  Saturday  so  unjustly  imputed  to  us,  we  teach 
that  Christ  tasted  death  for  every  man ;  and  that,  after  his 
resurrection  from  the  dead,  he  commanded  the  Good  News 
to  be  proclaimed  among  all  nations,  and  to  every  creature, 
with  the  promise  that  those  who  would  believe  and  be  bap- 
tized should  be  saved.  Now,  if  the  people  will  not  believe 
God's  Word  as  thus  declared,  neither  would  they  believe 
though  he  should  speak  to  them  directly  by  his  Holy  Spirit. 
This  we  believe  and  teach  ;  and,  if  it  is  not  the  Good  News 
of  the  Kingdom,  I  would  be  glad  if  that  brother  would  tell 
me  what  the  Gospel  is." 

"Will  you  not  stop  him?"  exclaimed  an  old  Calvinist, 
who  had  listened  thus  far,  in  spite  of  himself.  "  He  has  told 
it  nearly  all  right  out." 

"  Brother  Smith,"  said  the  Moderator,  "  will  you  not  now 
take  your  seat  ? " 

"Brethren,"  said  Smith,  "if  you  are  determined  not  to 
hear  me,  I  must  sit  down;  but  whether  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ  allows  you  to  act  in  this  way,  let  all  these 
good  people  around  me  judge  ;  I  submit." 

The  proposition  to  drop  the  six  anti-creed  churches  from 
the  Association  prevailed,  and  thus  did  the  Calvinists  of 
Boone's  Creek  rid  themselves  of  the  Reformers. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  temper  or  the  indiscre- 
tions of  a  few,  the  greater  part  of  the  disciples  among  the 
churches  of  the  Boone's  Creek  and  of  the  North  District 
Association,  with  John  Smith  at  their  head,  honestly  pro- 
fessed a  wish  to  live  in  fellowship  with  their  brethren,  and 
prudently  labored  to  avoid  giving  them  any  just  ground  of 
offense.  True,  they  demanded,  as  a  condition  of  peace, 
that  there  should  be  freedom  in  all  matters  of  opinion,  and 
liberty  in  love  respecting  all  things  not  expressly  enjoined. 


UNION  IN  LIBERTY.  391 

While  faith  and  obedience  was  maintained  as  the  proper 
ground  of  union,  they  insisted  that,  beyond  this,  nothing 
should  be  required,  one  of  another  ;  that  each  should  take 
the  Scriptures  alone  for  his  guide ;  and,  calling  no  man 
master,  read  and  interpret  for  himself.  Some  popular 
opinions,  it  is  true,  were  controverted,  and  certain  long- 
established  customs  were  disregarded  by  the  Reformers ; 
and  it  can  not  be  denied  that  some  were  betrayed,  at 
times,  by  their  zeal  or  their  resentment,  into  vain  and  un- 
profitable debate.  But  they  seldom  opposed  a  custom  that 
did  not  make  void  the  law  of  God,  or  controvert  an  opinion 
that  had  not  been  confounded  with  the  faith,  and  made 
the  ground  or  test  of  fellowship. 

But  illiberal  minds  sometimes  espouse  a  liberal  cause, 
and,  in  the  name  of  freedom,  strive  to  bring  the  free  them- 
selves into  bondage.  A  few  sectarian  spirits,  imagining 
that  they  were  out  of  Babylon,  when  they  had  only  climbed 
to  their  house-tops,  very  early  obtruded  themselves  among 
the  Disciples.  While  complaining  of  the  yoke  which  they 
and  their  fathers  had  worn,  they  bent  down  their  necks  to 
other  masters,  and  seemed  unwilling  to  be  free.  Indiffer- 
ent to  the  facts  of  the  Gospel,  they  still  wrangled  for 
opinions ;  confounding  example  and  principle — the  letter 
and  the  spirit  of  the  law — they  went  about  railing  at 
harmless  old  customs  as  unauthorized,  and  stickling  for  a 
puerile  and  lifeless  ritual,  under  the  name  of  the  Ancient 
and  Apostolic  order  of  things. 

The  Baptists  defended  their  ceremonies  and  order  of 
worship  on  the  ground  of  usage ;  but  a  few  untaught  ones 
among  the  Reformers,  with  but  little  spiritual  discernment, 
imagined  that  they  had  found  an  outward  rule  or  authori- 
tative example  for  every  accident  of  worship  and  point  of 
order.  The  attitude  of  prayer — the  hour  of  the  day  for 
eating  the  Lord's  Supper — the  chemical  nature  of  the 


392  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

wine  to  be  used — the  propriety  of  a  sermon,  or  even  a. 
benediction,  after  the  Supper — the  necessity  of  the  loud 
Amen  to  all  the  public  prayers — the  number  of  deacons  in 
a  congregation — the  holy  kiss  as  a  mode  of  Christian  sal- 
utation— and  many  other  such  things,  were  discussed,  not 
as  questions  of  taste  or  expediency  under  the  law  of  liberty, 
but  as  matters  of  grave  import,  or  of  positive  legislation. 

But,  though  the  serious  interest  and  decorum  of  a  great 
religious  controversy  were  occasionally  disturbed  by  these 
disputations,  yet  broader  minds  and  purer  hearts  consist- 
ently labored  for  union  in  liberty  and  love,  on  the  basis 
of  faith,  as  distinguished  from  opinion,  and  obedience,  as 
distinguished  from  all  legal  and  ritualistic  observances. 
The  plea  for  union  on  such  grounds,  maintained  as  it  was 
by  Smith  and  others  with  prudence  and  a  fraternal  spirit, 
could  not,  of  itself,  have  dismembered  the  body  of  Christ, 
or  produced  schism  in  a  single  congregation.  Exposed, 
however,  as  Reformers  generally  are,  to  peculiar  tempta- 
tions— to  the  fear  of  failure  or  the  pride  of  success,  to  the 
enthusiasm  of  new  ideas  or  the  restless  spirit  of  inquiry 
and  debate — they  must  have  been  more  than  human  had 
they  been  less  indiscreet.  The  larger  and  better  class  of 
them  strove  to  reform  by  argument  and  persuasive  exhorta- 
tion ;  they  plead  for  union  on  unsectarian  ground ;  they  were 
tolerant  when  strong,  and  patient  when  weak.  They  con- 
ceded to  others  the  right  of  private  judgment  and  free 
speech,  while  resolutely  claiming  that  right  for  themselves. 
This  assertion  of  their  liberty  was,  after  all,  the  chief  source 
of  discord  among  the  sectarian  churches ;  for  the  jealous 
intolerance  of  the  clergy  regarded  every  dissenting  view 
as  heretical,  condemned  reform  as  innovation,  and  stig- 
matized freedom  of  thought  and  of  action  as  licentious- 
ness or  downright  apostasy. 

When  the  disciples,   therefore,   proposed   to  maintain 


JOHN  D.  STEHLE.  393 

their  connection  with  the  Baptists,  it  was  not  on*the  con- 
dition that  these  should  renounce  their  Calvinism,  but 
that  they  themselves  should  be  left  free — zealous  only  for 
the  truth,  and  subject  only  to  the  law  of  the  King ;  but, 
when  their  Baptist  brethren  refused  to  remain  in  affilia- 
tion with  them,  it  was  on  the  ground  that  they  would  not 
observe  the  usages  of  the  Church,  or  would  not  accept  the 
doctrines  of  the  creed. 

"  Why  is  it,"  said  an  impatient  Calvinist  one  day  to  John 
Smith,  "  that  you  Reformers  do  not  leave  us  ?  Go  off 
quietly  now,  and  let  us  alone." 

"  We  love  you  too  well  for  that,"  replied  Smith.  "  My 
brother  Jonathan  once  tried  to  swap  horses  with  an  Irish- 
man, but  put,  perhaps,  too  great  a  price  on  his  horse.  The 
Irishman  declined  to  trade,  and,  by  way  of  apology,  said : 
'  It  would  be  a  great  pity,  Mr.  Smith,  to  part  you  and  your 
horse,  for  you  do  seem  to  think  so  very  much  of  him.'  So 
we  feel  toward  you,  Baptist  brethren  ;  we  love  you  too  well 
to  give  you  up ;  it  would  indeed  be  a  pity  to  part  us." 

About  that  time  John  D.  Steele,  a  man  of  exemplary 
piety  and  integrity,  who,  for  many  years,  had  been  a  zeal- 
ous preacher  of  Calvinism  in  the  valley  of  the  Green 
River,  having  read  the  debate  between  Campbell  and 
McCalla,  began,  in  consequence,  to  suspect  the  soundness 
of  his  own  theological  system.  There  was  not  at  that 
time,  however,  in  all  the  country  where  he  lived,  a  friend 
that  could  show  him,  as  he  called  it,  the  way  out  of  Babylon, 
Hearing  that  there  were  a  few  Reformers  in  Lincoln  Coun- 
ty, he  went  to  see  them,  in  order  to  learn  from  them,  if 
possible,  the  way  of  the  Lord  more  perfectly.  He  returned 
home,  and  honestly  declared  to  his  neighbors  that  he  had  at 
last  found  the  "  old  path,"  and  that  he  was  resolved  to  walk 
in  it  himself,  and  to  make  it  known  to  the  people. 

He  soon  began  to  teach  that  human  creeds,  miscalled 


394  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

confessions  of  faith,  were  in  the  main  but  summaries  of 
opinions,  and  that,  consequently,  they  could  not  be  a  proper 
basis  for  the  union  of  free  and  loyal  Christians  ;  that  they 
were  schismatic  in  their  tendency,  and  ought  to  be  abol- 
ished. He  was  at  once  suspected  of  unsoundness,  watched 
and  criticised,  till  grave  heads  shook  sorrowfully,  and  rest- 
less tongues  every-where  whispered  against  him;  at  last, 
they  judged  him  a  heretic,  and  openly  called  him  a  Camp- 
bellite! 

In  the  meantime,  he  had  been  appointed  to  preach  the 
Introductory  Discourse  at  the  Russell's  Creek  Associa- 
tion ;  but  his  brethren  on  that  occasion  received  him  coldly. 
When  he  reached  the  place  of  meeting  he  saw  the  messen- 
gers gathered  in  little  groups  apart,  conferring  together. 
Soon  one  of  them  arose,  and  announced  to  the  people  that 
the  messengers  would  forthwith  assemble  in  the  house,  but 
that  the  regular  Introductory  Address  would  be  dispensed 
with.  But  when  the  messengers  had  taken  their  seats,  an 
orthodox  preacher,  according  to  some  previous  arrange- 
ment, came  forward  and  addressed  the  people.  Elder 
Steele  bore  this  treatment  in  silence ;  he  took  a  seat  un- 
obtrusively in  the  crowd,  and  heard  the  preacher  to  the 
close. 

"  O,  Brother  Steele ! "  said  a  good  old  sister  present, 
grasping  his  hand,  while  tears  of  honest  distress  streamed 
down  her  cheeks,  "  you  are  ruined ;  you  have  gone  off  with 
that  Campbejl,  and  are  ruined  forever !  I  heard  a  preacher 
say  once,  that  he  would  rather  go  to  hell  from  any  other 
place  than  the  pulpit ! " 

The  brethren  at  Union,  in  Adair  County,  to  whom 
Steele  had  long  been  preaching,  patiently  bore  with  him 
for  awhile,  but,  as  he  persisted  in  teaching  that  the  Gos- 
pel should  be  obeyed  as  well  as  believed — a  doctrine  which, 
one  of  them  declared,  was  not  food  for  his  soul — they,  too, 


PROSCRIPTION.  395 

at  last  determined  to  dispense  with  his  services.  Accord- 
ingly, after  some  preliminary  proceedings,  he  was  formally 
arraigned  on  a  written  charge  of  having  changed  his  views 
respecting  the  Law,  Original  Sin,  the  Atonement  and  the  Call 
to  the  Ministry.  When  the  indictment  was  read,  he  asked 
that  his  doctrine  might  be  investigated,  promising,  that  if 
it  should  be  found  to  be  erroneous,  he  would  teach  it  no 
more.  But  they  replied  that  he  was  not  charged  with 
error  in  doctrine,  and  that,  consequently,  it  was  unneces- 
sary to  enter  upon  any  such  investigation.  "  The  simple 
question  is,"  said  they,  "  have  you  changed  your  views  or 
not  ? "  Pleading  guilty  to  the  charge,  without  reservation 
or  excuse,  he  was  at  once  dismissed,  though  by  a  small 
majority. 

"Nancy,"  said  John  Smith,  as  he  thoughtfully  sat  one 
evening  at  home,  not  long  after  these  occurrences,  "  there 
is  a  good  brother  down  yonder  in  the  Green  River  country 
I  hear  they  are  going  to  kill ;  I  am  going  down  to  help  him." 

He  started  at  once,  and,  taking  with  him  Josephus 
Hewitt,  went  on  to  Columbia,  the  county-seat  of  Adair; 
and,  having  been  joined  by  Steele,  they  began  boldly  to 
preach  every-where  the  Ancient  Gospel.  The  Baptists  of 
Columbia,  in  the  meantime,  had  sent  for  Elder  John  S. 
Wilson,  a  moderate  Calvinist,  but  a  relentless  foe  to  the 
Reformation.  He  came  promptly,  and  stood  by  his  creed, 
resolutely  denying  every  position  of  the  Reformers.  The 
people  became  intensely  excited,  and  no  house  in  the  place 
could  hold  the  multitude.  A  stand  was  erected  for  them 
in  the  woods,  and,  on  Sunday,  it  devolved  on  Smith  to 
meet  the  crisis.  Rising  above  all  controversy,  and  carry- 
ing his  audience  with  him,  he  discoursed,  for  hours,  of  life 
and  immortality  through  the  Gospel.  The  conceits  of  or- 
thodoxy and  the  jealousies  of  party  were,  for  the  time,  for- 
gotten ;  these  carnal  phases  of  religious  zeal  paled  in  the 


39^  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

glory  of  the  believer's  hope  which  was  now  vividly  set  be- 
fore them.  Creeds  and  customs  were  as  baubles  that  no 
longer  amuse,  and  all  differences  of  opinion  were,  for  the 
moment,  lost  in  a  conscious  unity  of  faith.  When  the 
speaker  reached  the  height  of  his  argument,  the  emotions 
of  the  people  could  find  expression  only  in  their  tears. 
Eyes  freely  wept  that  ^never  wept  such  tears  before ;  and 
hearts,  long  obdurate  and  cold,  melted  in  sympathy,  peni- 
tence or  joy.  The  impression  made  by  that  discourse  was 
deep  and  lasting — the  lapse  of  forty  years  has  not  effaced 
it  from  the  memory  and  hearts  of  the  people. 

From  Columbia,  Smith  went  into  Green  County,  having 
an  appointment  to  preach  at  Mount  Gilead.  The  day  was 
bad,  for  a  dismal,  stormy  sky  lowered  all  the  morning; 
yet  the  house  was  crowded,  and  the  interest  most  intense. 

"It  is  an  ugly  day,"  he  said,  on  rising,  "and  I  shall 
preach  to  you  just  as  long  as  I  please." 

Having  read  Heb.  viii,  he  explained  the  nature  of  the 
two  covenants,  presenting  Judaism  in  contrast  with  Chris- 
tianity— the  Law  as  opposed  to  the  Gospel.  The  people 
listened  to  his  long  discourse,  not  only  without  weariness, 
but  with  evident  delight ;  and  the  power  of  his  preaching 
was  soon  made  manifest.  At  a  private  house  in  the 
neighborhood,  where  many  had  gathered  in  to  hear  him, 
he  pressed  the  invitation  of  the  Gospel,  and  affectionately 
urged  every  penitent  believer  to  obey  it.  John  Steele, 
with  the  wrestling  ardor  of  Jacob,  lifted  up  his  voice  in 
prayer,  and  the  whole  congregation,  trembling  with  awe, 
bowed  down  with  him  in  tearful  devotion.  The  cross  tri- 
umphed over  prejudice,  and  the  first  fruits  of  the  Ancient 
Gospel  in  all  that  region  of  country  were  now  gathered  in. 
Some  of  the  most  influential  citizens  of  the  community 
confessed  the  Christ,  and  were  baptized  for  the  remission 
of  their  sins. 


A  GREAT  WORK  ACCOMPLISHED.  397 

From  that  place  they  continued  their  missionary  tour  to 
Mount  Pleasant,  of  which  church  Steele  was  a  member  ; 
thence  to  Edmonton,  and  through  Barren  County  to  the 
Dripping  Springs.  Here  they  met  with  Elder  Ralph 
Petty,  a  staunch  Calvinist,  who,  like  John  S.  Wilson,  hon- 
estly believed  that  those  who  preached  the  Gospel  of  Alex- 
ander Campbell,  only  "  directed  sinner,s  to  eternal  pains ! " 
The  progress  of  these  Reformers,  thus  far,  had  met  with 
no  other  hinderance  than  argument  or  prejudice ;  but  now 
they  found  themselves  withstood  by  bolts  and  bars.  The 
house  at  Dripping  Springs  was  closed  against  them,  and 
the  keepers  without  were  faithfully  guarding  the  doors. 
Smith  only  smiled  at  this  familiar  but  ill-devised  expe- 
dient to  stay  the  progress  of  truth  ;  and  the  people,  feeling 
an  increased  desire  to  hear  a  doctrine  thus  opposed,  went, 
of  their  own  accord,  to  the  woods  near  by,  and  built  a 
stand  for  the  preachers,  and  gathered  in  crowds  to  hear 
them. 

Turning  southward,  they  preached  through  the  counties 
bordering  on  the  Tennessee  line,  and  then  Smith  returned 
home  by  way  of  Greensburg  and  other  towns  in  the  Val- 
ley, leaving  John  Steele,  now  cheered  and  strengthened, 
to  build  on  the  foundation  which  had  thus  been  laid. 

"  I  believe,"  says  Steele,  "  that  John  Smith's  influence  in 
the  Green  River  Valley  will  continue  to  be  felt  through  all 
time.  He  did  a  work  there,  which,  in  my  judgment,  no 
other  man  could  have  accomplished." 

The  subsequent  history  of  John  D.  Steele  illustrates  well 
the  prescriptive  spirit  that  was  every-where  aroused  against 
those  who  were  laboring  to  restore  the  ancient  faith  and 
order  in  the  church. 

He  had  been  preaching  monthly,  as  was  the  custom 
among  the  Baptists,  to  four  influential  churches  of  the  Rus- 
sell's Creek  Association,  sometimes  taking  the  liberty  of 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

changing  the  day  of  meeting  at  any  place,  by  previous 
notice,  when  the  interests  of  the  community  seemed  to 
require  it.  The  preaching  of  Smith  through  that  country 
had  not  only  gained  many  friends  to  the  cause,  but  had 
stirred  up  much  bitterness  of  feeling  against  Steele.  This 
opposition  to  him  soon  culminated  in  the  Mount  Pleasant 
congregation,  of  which  he  was  a  member.  On  one  of  their 
usual  days  of  meeting,  he  had  gone,  agreeably  to  a  previ- 
ous appointment,  to  preach  at  another  place;  but,  in  his 
absence,  a  few  members  of  that  church  came  together,  and, 
claiming  authority  to  act  by  virtue  of  their  presence  on  the 
regular  day,  proceeded  to  exclude  him,  for  the  alleged 
offense  of  "  rejecting  the  principles  of  the  general  Union, 
and  other  things."  This  summary  proceeding  being  noised 
abroad,  a  great  multitude  came  together  at  the  next  meet- 
ing of  the  church,  so  that  they  crowded  the  house  and  the 
yard  at  Mount  Pleasant. 

When  Steele  arrived,  the  church  was  already  in  session, 
and  another  preacher,  called  for  the  purpose,  was  in  the 
Moderator's  chair.  Steele  asked  for  a  full  investigation  of 
all  matters  of  difference  between  them,  with  a  view  to 
reconciliation.  He  pleaded  for  it  with  tears,  but  he  re- 
monstrated and  wept  in  vain.  With  a  manly,  but  fraternal 
spirit,  he  then  demanded  to  be  informed  respecting  the 
other  things  charged  in  their  bill  of  accusation,  saying  that, 
in  time  to  come,  when  he  should  have  passed  away,  good 
people,  reading  that  language  in  the  old  church-book, 
might  be  led  to  suppose  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  doing 
something  wrong.  This  unforeseen  demand  greatly  embar- 
rassed them  ;  and  moved  by  fear  of  popular  censure,  or  by 
an  awakened  sense  of  justice,  they  expunged  the  injurious 
words  from  their  Record.  Steele  now  arose,  and  holding 
up  a  copy  of  the  New  Testament,  called  on  all  that  were 
willing  to  take  that  Book  as  their  rule  of  faith  and  practice, 


ANCIENT  GOSPEL   TRIUMPHANT.  399 

to  come  and  unite  with  him  in  keeping  its  ordinances  and 
commandments.  Ten  persons  stepped  forth  and  stood 
with  him  on  that  foundation.  At  the  next  meeting,  others 
did  likewise,  and  thus  they  continued  to  do  from  day  to  day, 
until  the  greater  part  of  the  church  went  with  him  into  the 
Reformation.* 


*"I  have  now — January,  1870 — reached  my  seventy-seventh  year,"  writes 
Elder  Steele,  ''  and  it  has  been  sixty  years  since  I  made  my  first  attempt  at  speak- 
ing publicly  for  the  Lord.  In  looking  back  over  all  the  past,  I  can  solemnly  say 
that  in  all  my  labors  in  the  Gospel,  I  have  aimed  at  the  glory  of  God  and  the  wel- 
fare of  my  fellow-men.  In  all  this  time,  the  Lord  has  been  a  wall  of  fire  round 
about  me,  and  the  glory  in  the  midst.  Yea,  he  has  been  to  me  as  the  shadow  of  a 
great  Rock  in  a  weary  land  ! " 


400  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

Smith  ready  to  dissolve.  North  District  Association  in  1 8  3 1 — Goes  to  see  his  Mother — 
Confuses  some  old  Calvinists  at  Monticello — Conversation  with  Isaac  Denton— 
Resolution  of  South  Concord  Association — Reaches  the  Valley — Preaches  at  a 
private  house — The  Baptists  tender  him  Clear  Fork.  Meeting-house — Preaches 
there  on  Sunday — Isaac  T.  Reneau — Smith's  interview  with  his  Mother — 
His  embarrassment — Her  distress — Is  at  last  reconciled — Elder  Floyd  dis- 
owns Smith — Returns  to  Monticello — Labors  eight  days  and  nights — Dis- 
couraged— Sleeps  in  his  saddle — His  prudence — Slanders  of  his  Enemies. 

DURING  the  winter  and  spring  of  183 1,  John  Smith,  again 
relieved  of  all  domestic  care  by  the  self  sacrificing  zeal  of 
his  wife,  went  about  among  the  rejected  churches  of  the 
North  District  Association,  confirming  them  in  the  faith, 
and  setting  every  thing  in  order.  He  had  but  little  trouble 
in  persuading  most  of  them  to  agree  to  a  dissolution  of  the 
Association,  when  they  should  come  together  at  Somerset 
in  July ;  for,  though  originally  and  constitutionally  an  ad- 
visory body,  it  had,  in  its  gradual  assumption  of  power, 
become  so  prescriptive  that  it  was  but  an  impulse  of  lib- 
erty in  the  Disciples  to  declare  themselves  independent 
of  it. 

When  the  proper  public  sentiment,  respecting  the  pro- 
posed revolution,  had  been  formed,  he  began  to  feel  an 
irrepressible  desire  to  see  his  friends  on  the  Little  South 
Fork,  and  especially  his  old  mother,  who  was  living,  at  that 
time,  with  a  son-in-law,  in  Overton  County,  Tennessee.  He 


A  MO  NO  HIS   OLD  FRIENDS.  40 1 

had  often  prayed  that  he  might  be  spared  to  preach  the 
Ancient  Gospel  in  every  place  where  he  had  once  taught 
Calvinism.  He  longed,  too,  for  an  opportunity  to  vindi- 
cate himself,  if  he  could,  before  those  early  friends  who 
had  heard  so  many  rumors  concerning  his  apostasy.  The 
thought,  that  some  of  them  might  still  be  waiting  the 
Lord's  time  in  all  the  wretchedness  of  hope  deferred,  had 
caused  him  to  pass  many  a  sleepless  night ;  and  he  had 
often  said  to  his  wife  that,  if  he  should  die  before  he  had 
preached  the  Gospel  to  them,  he  would  die  dissatisfied. 
And  now,  it  seemed,  the  time  had  come  to  go,  and  tell  them 
how  they  might  be  saved. 

Accordingly,  he  set  out  in  May,  and  reached  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Monticello  on  Saturday  evening,  having  made  an 
appointment  to  preach  in  that  village  on  the  following  day. 
That  night,  in  the  hospitable  cabin  of  one  of  his  old  ac- 
quaintances, many,  that  still  loved  him,  gathered  in  to  see 
him,  and  to  hear  him  talk.  They  questioned  him  respect- 
ing his  new  faith,  and,  in  their  simple-hearted  way,  be- 
sought him,  not  without  tears,  to  return  to  the  good  old 
paths  from  which  he  had  wandered. 

They  had  one  test  by  which  they  judged  whether  a  man 
was  a  Christian  or  not,  and  that  test  they  now  applied  to 
him. 

"Brother  John,"  said  one  of  them — an  old  man — "we 
would  like  to  hear  your  experience  again.  It  has  been 
many  a  long  year  since  you  told  it ;  but  we  suppose  you 
still  remember  it;"  and  they  all  sat  together  around  him 
to  hear  it. 

"  I  will  give  it  to  you,"  replied  Smith,  "but  I  shall  expect 
each  of  you  to  do  the  same,  for  I  want  to  know  how  the 
Lord  has  dealt  with  you  all." 

He  related,  with  some  minuteness,  his  experience,  to 
which  they  listened  with  pleasure  and  surprise. 

34 


402  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"  Why,"  said  one  of  them,  "  it  is  the  very  same  that  he 
used  to  give  us  years  ago ! " 

"Certainly,"  said  Smith.  "I  have  never  forgotten  or 
denied  my  experience,  for  it  was  real,  and  just  what  I  tell 
you.  But  I  must  now  hear  yours." 

Each,  in  his  turn,  told  his  experience,  varying  some 
little  in  detail,  but  presenting  substantially  the  same  suc- 
cession of  thoughts  and  feelings.  Each  had  felt  that  he 
was  the  worst  of  sinners,  and  that  God  could  not  be  just 
and  pardon  him.  When  they  were  all  done  he  inquired: 

"  Do  you  really  believe,  brethren,  that  these  discoveries 
were  made  to  you  by  the  Holy  Spirit  ?  " 

"  Yes,  John ! "  said  the  same  fatherly  old  Calvinist,  whose 
meek  face  turned  solemnly,  but  tenderly,  upon  him ;  "  the 
good  Spirit  only  could  have  made  these  things  known 
to  us." 

"  Do  you  believe,  too,"  asked  Smith,  "  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  always  speaks  the  truth  ? " 

"  Why,  John !  you  know  that  the  Spirit  can't  say  any 
thing  but  what  is  true." 

"  But  you  say,"  continued  Smith,  "  that  the  Spirit  as- 
sured you,  that  evening,  as  you  sat  disconsolate  on  the 
steps  by  the  door,  that  God  could  not  pardon  you,  and  be 
just ;  and  yet,  on  the  next  day,  you  got  relief,  and  the  same 
Spirit  then  assured  you  that  God  had  pardoned  you,  and  was 
just !  If  he  really  told  you  these  things,  did  he  not  con- 
tradict himself?" 

At  this  the  old  man  bowed  his  gray  head  in  thought, 
and  his  eyes,  still  moist  with  the  remembrances  of  his  own 
conversion,  rested  musingly  on  the  floor.  Lifting  up,  at 
length,  his  honest  face,  he  said : 

"  Brethren,  you  may  be  sure  that  the  good  Spirit  never 
talks  two  ways." 

"But,  my  brother,"  continued  Smith,  "the  Spirit  told 


CONFUSES  THE  CALVINISTS.  403 

you  that  you  were  the  greatest  sinner  in  the  world ;  now, 
have  you  ever  stolen  any  thing,  or  murdered  any  body  ?  " 

"  Why,  John ! "  he  replied,  "  I  never  did  such  things  in 
my  life!" 

"  But  there  are  men,  you  know,  that  do  commit  these, 
and  even  worse  crimes.  Were  you  a  greater  sinner  than 
they  ?  Besides,  the  same  Spirit  told  the  brother  sitting  by 
you  that  he  was  the  greatest  sinner  in  the  world ;  and  he 
told  the  same  thing  to  the  next  brother  there ;  and  he  told 
me,  too,  that  7  was  the  very  worst  of  sinners.  Now,  how 
could  each  one  of  us  have  been  the  worst  of  all  ? " 

"  Brethren,"  said  the  old  man,  solemnly,  "  rest  assured 
the  Holy  Spirit  never  contradicts  himself!" 

"  Brother  John,"  said  another  of  them,  whose  harder 
features  betrayed  the  greater  sternness  of  his  prejudice, 
"  I  have  often  said  that  if  you  should  ever  prove  to  be  no 
Christian,  I  would  give  up  religion  as  a  dream.  But  I  see 
now  that  you  have  never  known  what  true  religion  is.  You 
seem  to  be  utterly  in  the  dark ! " 

Smith  saw  that  it  would  be  vain  to  attempt,  by  any  fur- 
ther argument,  to  remove  the  scales  from  their  eyes.  They 
had  been  blinded  by  their  early  religious  education  ;  they 
were  now  all  well  advanced  in  years ;  and  he  could  not 
even  disturb,  much  less  remove,  the  prejudice  of  half  a 
century's  growth. 

He  passed  on  down  toward  Stockton's  Valley,  sad  with 
the  reflection  that  he  would  be  met  as  an  apostate  by  those 
dearer  friends  whom  he  loved  more  than  all  others  in  the 
world.  He  knew  the  depth  of  their  prejudices,  and  he  had 
learned  something  of  the  nature  of  the  rumors  that  had 
gone  before  him ;  and  he  feared,  not  without  reason,  that 
their  confidence  in  him  was  lost,  and  that  their  ears  would 
be  closed  to  his  words.  No  Disciples  had  yet  preached  the 
Gospel,  as  he  now  understood  it,  in  that  sequestered  re- 


404  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

gion ;  the  people  had  only  heard  of  it,  as  a  heresy  that 
denied  the  Holy  Spirit  and  blasphemously  declared  that  the 
sins  of  men  could  be  washed  away  with  water !  They  had 
heard,  too,  with  sorrow  and  surprise,  that  their  beloved 
John  Smith  had  renounced  his  old  faith,  ridiculed  his  ex-^ 
perience,  and  was  gone,  hopelessly  gone,  into  that  wretched 
and  ruinous  delusion !  They  had  wondered  and  wept  at 
his  fall,  and  their  hearts  had  long  since  given  him  up.  He 
knew  all  this ;  and  as  he  journeyed  along  the  familiar  road 
that  led  to  the  home  of  his  youth,  it  pained  him  to  think 
of  meeting  those  friends,  still  cherished,  but  now  cold  and 
estranged. 

He  thought  of  Isaac  Denton,  his  father  in  the  Gospel, 
venerable  with  age  and  godliness;  and  he  dwelt  on  the 
early  kindness  of  that  firm,  but  gentle-hearted  pastor,  till 
he  would  have  given  the  world  to  be  assured  that  he  still 
loved  him  as  a  son.  But,  when  he  remembered  his  mother, 
trembling  with  more  than  fourscore  years,  her  religious 
sentiments  now  past  all  change,  and  her  prejudices  too 
sacred  for  a  son  to  despise,  he  was  moved  with  filial  ten- 
derness, and  wept  as  he  rode  along  his  solitary  way.  His 
mind,  too,  was  much  perplexed ;  for,  with  all  his  invention, 
he  felt  that  he  could  not  frame  a  suitable  apology  or  argu- 
ment to  meet  her  sorrowful  reproaches.  She  was  too 
infirm  to  reason  about  doctrines,  and  he  could  not  pre- 
meditate any  disingenuous  plea  even  to  win  back  his  old 
place  in  that  mother's  heart.  Strong  as  he  was,  he  dreaded 
the  interview ;  the  thought  of  her  distrust  unnerved  him, 
and  he  trembled  like  a  little  child.  "  I  felt,"  he  often  said 
afterward,  "  that  I  would  rather  .meet,  in  fierce  debate,  a 
ten-acre  field  of  men,  than  that  dear  old  mother,  whose 
heart  I  had  so  deeply  distressed  by  a  course  that  she  could 
not  be  made  to  understand  or  excuse." 

While  indulging  in  these  reflections,  he  suddenly  met  his 


INTERVIEW  WITH  ISAAC  DENTON.  405 

old  pastor,  Isaac  Denton,  in  the  road.  He  was  then  on  his 
way  into  Wayne  County,  where  he  had  an  appointment  to 
preach.  After  much  cordial  greeting,  they  dismounted,  and, 
hitching  their  horses  on  the  roadside,  sat  down  together  on 
a  log,  and  entered  into  conversation. 

.  "I  suppose,  Brother  Denton,"  said  Smith, " that  you  have 
heard  many  unfavorable  things  about  me — concerning  my 
departures  from  the  faith,  and  the  errors  into  which  I  have 
run." 

"  I  have,  Brother  John,"  said  Denton,  "and  I  was  grieved 
— deeply  grieved — to  hear  them." 

"  Brother  Denton,  you  always  professed  to  believe  that  I 
was  candid  and  truthful,  even  when  a  boy." 

"  I  have  always  believed  that,  John." 

"I  hope,  then,"  said  Smith,  "that  you  will  think  I  am 
candid  now,  and  that  I  will  tell  you  the  whole  truth  about 
my  departure  from  the  faith." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Denton  ;  "  Satan  has  never  tempted  me 
to  doubt  that  you  were  a  Christian  from  the  day  that  I  bap- 
tized you  to  the  present  moment.  But  you  are  gone — you 
are  gone,  John  ! " 

"  Where  to,  Brother  Denton  ? "  quickly  asked  Smith. 

"From  the  faith  of  the  Baptists,"  as  quickly  rejoined 
Denton. 

"  Well,"  said  Smith,  "  I  will  tell  you  truthfully  the  whole 
route  I  have  traveled :  I  have  gone  from  the  Philadelphia 
Confession  of  Faith  to  the  Bible  as  my  only  guide  in  mat- 
ters of  religion." 

"I  have  set  down  Alexander  Campbell,  John,  as  the 
most  erroneous  and  corrupt  man  in  the  world,"  said 
Denton. 

Smith,  by  no  means  diverted  from  his  purpose  by  this 
denunciation,  remarked:  "I  have  heard,  Brother  Denton, 
that  the  doors  of  old  Clear  Fork  meeting-house,  where  I 


406  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH.  , 

told  my  experience  many  years  ago,  and  where  you  received 
me  into  the  church,  have  been  closed  against  me ! " 

"Yes,  they  are,"  said  he;  "you  will  not  be  allowed  to 
speak  there." 

"I  am  on  my  way  to  the  Valley,"  said  Smith,  "and  I  ex- 
pect to  talk  to  the  people;  and  now  I  ask  you  whether  it 
will  be  agreeable  to  your  feelings  for  me  to  preach  in  the 
house  ?  I  have  often  done  so  in  times  past,  and  I  would 
like  to  do  so  in  future,  whenever  I  may  come  down  to  visit 
my  friends." 

"  The  church  will  not  expect  you  to  preach  in  their  house, 
Brother  John ;  and  I  think,  myself,  that  you  had  better  not 
do  it." 

"  Brother  Denton,  you  say  that  you  have  no  doubt  that  I 
am  a  Christian ;  now,  as  you  do  not  believe  in  falling  from 
grace,  I  may  have  only  gone  into  some  error,  from  which  I 
may  be  brought  back  again." 

"But  I  fear,"  replied  he,  "that  you  will  do  great  injury 
to  the  cause  before  you  are  brought  back." 

"  Will  you  not,  then,  turn,  and  go  with  me  to  the  Valley  ? " 
asked  Smith.  "  Let  me  preach  in  the  house,  and  I  will  con- 
fess all  my  departures  from  the  Baptist  faith,  and  give  my 
reasons  for  every  change.  When  I  am  done,  I  will  take  it 
as  the  part  of  a  father,  if  you  will  then  get  up  and  tell  me 
wherein  I  have  made  any  departure  from  the  Word  of  God." 

"  No,  no,  Brother  John ;  such  a  course  would  get  us  into 
controversy." 

"  Well,  the  controversy  shall  be  friendly,"  said  Smith ; 
"and,  my  dear  brother,  it  may  convert  me  from  the  error 
of  my  way." 

"  You  well  know,  John,  that  you  can  out-talk  me." 

"Were  you  standing  on  Gospel  ground,  Brother  Denton, 
I  have  not  the  vanity  to  suppose  such  a  thing ;  but,  to  tell 
you  the  truth,  I  do  believe  that  I  can  out-talk  any  man, 


HOUSES   CLOSED  AGAINST  HIM.  407 

within  five  hundred  miles  of  the  place  where  we  now  sit, 
that  will  attempt  to  defend  the  ground  you  occupy." 

"I  must  now  go,"  said  Denton ;  "but  do  not  attempt  to 
preach  at  Clear  Fork  meeting-house ! " 

And  thus  these  old  friends  parted — each  to  his  appoint- 
ment— grieved  that  they  could  not  part  as  brethren,  after 
so  many  years  of  pleasant  fellowship.  Nor  did  they  ever 
look  upon  each  other's  face  again  till,  having  laid  aside  the 
flesh,  they  met  in  that  world  where  love,  and  not  opinion, 
is  the  bond  of  union,  and  where  deeds,  not  dogmas,  are  the 
tests  of  love ! 

The  South  Concord  Association  of  Baptists,  comprising 
many  of  the  churches  of  Wayne,  some  of  which  were  at 
that  time  enjoying  the  instructions  of  Isaac  Denton,  had, 
a  few  months  previous  to  Smith's  visit,  published  the  fol- 
lowing decree : 

Whereas,  Alexander  Campbell  and  his  followers  have  spread 
discord,  by  their  influence,  in  different  churches,  therefore  this 
Association  resolves  that  our  brethren  of  the  churches  that  we 
represent  are  united  to  stand  fast  in  the  doctrines  which  they 
have  received,  and  reject  all  those  preachers  that  deny  the 
agency  of  the  Spirit  from  preaching  in  their  houses,  or  their 
meeting-houses,  so  that  our  churches  be  not  split  and  divided 
as  some  are. 

Denton  could  not,  therefore,  have  felt  entirely  at  liberty 
to  proffer  even  his  own  house  to  his  erring  brother,  had  he 
felt  a  wish  to  do  so.  Laws,  in  those  days,  were  often  dis- 
guised as  requests,  and  authoritative  decrees  frequently  as- 
sumed the  language  of  exhortation  or  advice. 

On  reaching  his  old  neighborhood,  Smith  learned  that 
the  militia  of  the  district  had  been  mustered  for  exercise, 
that  day,  not  far  from  Clear  Fork,  and  he  availed  himself 
of  the  occasion  to  publish  his  appointments.  After  some 
conference  with  his  friends,  a  preacher,  by  the  name  of 


408  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Randolph,  who  belonged  to  what  was  then  known  as  the 
"  Christian  Connection" — a  body  of  believers,  quite  numer- 
ous in  other  parts  of  the  State,  that,  many  years  before  this, 
had  discarded  denominational  creeds  and  names — went 
upon  the  muster-field,  and,  having  obtained  leave,  turned 
to  the  battalion,  and,  hat  in  hand,  proclaimed,  in  a  loud 
voice,  that  "Elder  John  Smith  would  preach,  that  night, 
at  the  house  of  John  Woods,  and,  on  the  next  day,  at  the 
house  of  Alexander  Hayes  ! "  Smith  intended  to  preach 
on  Sunday,  also,  but  he  refrained  from  appointing  at  pres- 
ent a  place  of  meeting,  hoping  that  the  people,  after  hear- 
ing him  twice,  would  designate  a  suitable  place  themselves. 

A  large  congregation  gathered  in  that  night  at  the  house 
of  Mr.  Woods.  The  speaker  presented,  in  clear  and  sim- 
ple language,  the  chief  points  of  the  new  doctrine,  keeping 
the  attention  of  his  hearers  fixed  to  the  close.  After  the 
discourse,  he  informed  them  that  he  had  that  day  seen 
Isaac  Denton,  who  was  opposed  to  his  preaching  in  the 
meeting-house  ;  that,  consequently,  he  was  forced  to  meet 
his  friends  in  their  own  private  houses.  He  was  deter- 
mined, however,  that  the  people  should  hear  him,  if  they 
were  so  disposed,  for  his  doctrine  had  been  much  misrep- 
resented. He  owed  it  to  his  Master,  whom  he  tried  faith- 
fully to  serve,  to  his  old  friends  and  neighbors,  whom  he 
still  loved,  and  to  himself,  to  tell  the  people  plainly  what 
he  believed  and  taught. 

The  Baptists  present,  and  there  were  many,  now  took 
council  together,  and  agreed  that  he  should  have  the  use 
of  the  meeting-house,  if  he  desired  it.  "  We  want  you  to 
be  heard,  Brother  Smith,"  said  they,  "and  no  other  house 
in  the  neighborhood  can  hold  the  people  that  will  come  to- 
gether;" and  they  insisted  that  he  should  preach  at  Clear 
Fork  on  Sunday.  He  accordingly  made  the  appoint- 
ment. 


ISAAC  T.   REFEAU.  409 

"And  if  I  should  defile  the  house,  brethren,"  said  he, 
with  all  apparent  seriousness,  "  I  will  send  for  a  priest  to 
come  with  his  holy  water  and  make  it  clean  again," 

On  Saturday,  they  again  crowded  into  the  house  of  one 
of  his  friends,  and  listened  with  increased  delight,  while  he 
discoursed  of  Heaven  atid  Eteriial  Life;  and  on  Lord's 
day,  according  to  appointment,  he  discussed  at  Clear 
Fork  the  subject  of  the  Atouetnent.  These  three  dis- 
courses, the  first  ever  delivered  in  that  region  of  country 
by  a  preacher  of  the  Ancient  Gospel,  were  well  received 
by  the  people  ;  much  prejudice  was  removed,  a  spirit  of 
inquiry  was  awakened,  and  some  were  convinced.  Al- 
though no  one  came  out  at  that  time  in  an  open  profession 
of  the  faith,  yet  his  teaching  proved  to  be  as  bread  cast 
upon  the  waters. 

There  was  present,  at  that  time,  a  young  man,  a  student 
of  medicine,  from  one  of  the  northern  counties  of  Ten- 
nessee, who  had  come  over  into  the  Valley  on  a  visit  to  his 
friends,  and  was  at  the  muster-field  on  Friday,  when  the 
announcement  concealing  John  Smith  was  made.  Curious 
to  see  and  to  hear  the  man  of  whom  so  many  things  were 
reported  among  the  people,  he  went  to  the  meeting  that 
night  Pleased  and  encouraged,  he  sought  his  company 
the  next  day,  and  opened  to  him  his  heart.  Though  com- 
paratively young,  he  had  earnestly  sought  religion  for 
eleven  years,  and  had  at  last  begun  to  despair.  He  had 
read  the  Scriptures  as  carefully  as  he  could,  anxious  to 
know  the  truth  and  willing  to  obey  it ;  but,  like  many 
others  in  that  day,  he  had  read  them  with  the  persuasion 
that,  without  supernatural  aid,  he  could  neither  believe  nor 
understand  what  the  Holy  Spirit  revealed.  He  listened, 
therefore,  with  more  than  ordinary  interest  to  Smith,  who 
lost  no  opportunity  of  teaching  the  young  stranger  how  to 
become  a  Christian.  When  they  parted  on  Sunday  evening, 
35 


4IO  .LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Smith,  seeing  his  earnestness  of  purpose,  his  honesty  and 
intelligence,  pressed  him  to  come  to  Montgomery,  and  study 
his  profession  with  some  of  the  physicians  there,  prom- 
ising to  give  him  his  influence,  and  whatever  religious  in- 
struction he  might  need.  The  young  physician,  however, 
returned  to  Tennessee,  now  fully  persuaded  that  he  had 
at  last  found  the  way  of  escape  from  his  bondage.  In  three 
or  four  weeks  from  that  time,  he  fled  from  his  hard  task- 
masters, and  was  baptized  into  Christ,  by  Elder  William  D. 
Jourdan.  Isaac  T.  Reneau,  though  he  was  educated  for 
the  profession  of  medicine,  was  too  honest  with  himself, 
and  too  zealous  for  the  truth,  to  look  with  indifference  on 
the  broad  harvest-fields  around  him.  The  laborers  were 
few  ;  the  toil,  he  knew,  would  be  great ;  the  trials  many  and 
severe,  and  the  support,  little  or  none  ;  yet  he  went  in,  with 
a  brave  heart  and  strong  faith,  and  for  many  long  years 
since  he  has  been  gathering  fruit  unto  eternal  life. 

On  Monday,  Smith  went  on  into  Overton  County,  to  the 
house  of  a  married  sister — Mrs.  Matlock — with  whom  his 
mother  was  at  that  time  living.  The  old  matron  saw  him 
coming,  and,  with  all  the  alacrity  of  childish  joy,  tottered 
out  to  meet  him.  She  hung  upon  him  in  her  doting  fond- 
ness, and  poured  her  tears  into  his  bosom.  All  the  years 
of  his  manhood  rolled  back  in  a  moment  as  he  felt  the 
pressure  of  her  palsied  arms  around  him.  He  was  a  child, 
a  tender-hearted  boy  again,  and  he  wept  his  pious  tears 
upon  her  head.  He  led  her  gently  into  the  house,  but  when 
the  greetings  were  over,  her  heart  turned  to  its  distress. 

"They  tell  me,  John,  that  you  have  left  us !  They  say 
that  you  deny  the  good  Spirit  that  once  gave  you  peace, 
and  that  you  tell  poor  sinners  that  water  can  wash  away 
their  sins !  For  a  long  time  I  would  not  believe  them ; 
but  why  didn't  you  wait  till  your  poor  old  mother  was 
dead  and  gone  ? " 


INTERVIEW  WITH  HIS  MOTHER  41 1 

"  Mother,"  said  he,  "  I  confess  that  my  mind  has  under- 
gone some  change  in  reference  to  the  doctrines  that  I 
once  held  as  true ;  but  many  of  the  things  that  you  have 
heard  about  me  are  idle  tales.  I  do  not  teach  nor  believe 
such  things.  I  have  never  denied  the  Spirit,  nor  taught 
that  water  can  wash  away  sins." 

"  But,  if  you  had  only  lived  and  preached  as  you  once 
did,  a  few  years  longer,  John,  it  would  not  have  hurt  me ; 
I  could  have  died  so  much  happier;"  and  she  burst  into  a 
flood  of  complaining  tears. 

He  tried,  with  all  his  art,  to  assuage  her  grief,  but  his 
words  were  powerless.  He  continued  to  sit  by  her  side 
in  silence,  painfully  conscious  that  he  had  not  the  address 
to  wipe  away  her  tears. 

"  Mother,  on  your  account,"  said  he,  at  length,  "  I  would 
be  glad  if  I  were  still  a  Baptist ;  but  I  could  not,  then,  be 
true  to  my  convictions  of  duty.  It  pains  me,  beyond  ex- 
pression, to  wound  the  feelings  of  my  mother ;  and  I  will 
now  make  you,  as  I  regard  it,  a  fair  proposition:  I  will 
turn  back  and  preach  Calvinism  as  faithfully  as  I  ever  did, 
so  long  as  you  live,  should  I  survive  you,  provided  you 
will  agree  to  answer  for  me,  in  the  day  of  judgment,  should 
I  be  found  wrong  in  so  doing." 

"Ah,  John,"  she  replied,  "I  can't  do  that.  I  shall  have 
to  answer  for  myself  in  that  day,  and  so  must  you,  my  poor 
boy!" 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  if  I  must  answer  for  myself  then,  do. 
you  not  think,  mother,  that  I  ought  to  believe  and  act  for 
myself  now?" 

She  mused  for  some  time,  and  then,  wiping  her  eyes, 
replied: 

"I  suppose  you  are  right,  Johnny;  you  ought  to  think 
for  yourself.  But  you  will  have  to  account  for  it  in  the 
great  day." 


412  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Thus  she  was  reconciled;  and,  from  that  time,  she  did 
not  cease  to  vindicate  her  boy  to  the  day  of  her  death. 
She  could  not,  indeed,  comprehend  the  nature  or  the  ground 
of  his  apostasy ;  but  she  always  said  that  she,  at  least,  was 
not  responsible  for  it — that  John  ought  to  be  left  free,  for 
to  his  own  Master  he  had  to  stand  or  fall. 

Some  of  his  old  friends,  however,  could  not  be  so  easily 
conciliated,  and  they  openly  and  abruptly  cast  him  off. 
Meeting  a  prominent  Calvinist  of  the  South  Concord  As- 
sociation, whom  he  had  long  known  and  loved,  he  greeted 
him  cordially : 

"Brother  Floyd,"  said  he,  "I  am  glad  to  see  you  once 
more  ;  how  do  you  do  ? " 

"  Do  n't  call  me  brother  any  more,  Mr.  Smith,"  said  he, 
with  repulsive  solemnity. 

"What  have  they  turned  you  out  of  the  church  for?" 
replied  Smith,  with  much  surprise  of  manner.  "  What  is 
it  that  you  have  done  ? " 

"  I  have  done  nothing,  sir ! "  said  he. 

"  Well,  but  when  I  last  saw  you,"  persisted  Smith,  "  you 
were  in  good  standing  with  the  brethren,  and  I  called  you 
brother ;  what  in  the  world  have  you  done  that  makes  it 
wrong  for  me  to  call  you  brother  now  ? " 

While  on  this  visit  to  his  mother,  he  felt  a  desire  to  go 
and  see  his  friends  in  Alabama  again  ;  and,  leaving  the 
seed  which  he  had  scattered  around  Clear  Fork  to  spring 
up  in  its  season,  he  mounted  his  horse,  and,  like  a  pilgrim, 
went  to  look  once  more  upon  the  spot  where  the  rod  of  his 
Father's  love  had  chastened  him.  He  could  never  forget 
his  friends  in  the  Hickory  Flats  ;  the  memory  of  their 
kindness  lay  on  his  heart  through  life  like  a  heavy,  but 
precious,  burden,  which  he  felt  that  he  could  never  repay, 
yet  which  he  always  loved  to  acknowledge  by  these  grateful 
pilgrimages  to  their  firesides. 


LAYS  SIEGE   TO  MONTI  CELLO.  413 

On  his  way  back  home,  he  resolved  to  stop  again  at 
Monticello,  and  to  lay  siege  to  that  place,  if  by  any  means 
he  might  deliver  from  bondage  those  dear  old  Calvinists, 
whose  contradictory  experiences,  he  hoped,  had  led  them, 
by  this  time,  to  reflect  on  the  ground  of  their  confidence 
before  God.  Although  weary  from  his  long  journey  and 
incessant  labors,  he  rallied  his  exhausted  energies,  and,  for 
eight  days  and  nights,  he  taught  the  people  of  Monticello 
in  public,  and  from  house  to  house.  They  received  him 
kindly,  and  listened  to  his  doctrine  with  respectful  atten- 
tion ;  but  no  one  received  it,  though  some  said  they  would 
examine  whether  it  was  from  God  or  man. 

He  departed,  at  last,  much  worn  down  by  his  severe 
but  fruitless  toils.  He  left  his  old  Calvinistic  brethren  as 
he  found  them ;  and  they  saw  him  go  away  with  no  less 
concern  for  his  spiritual  condition  than  when  he  came; 
for  they  were  now  more  than  ever  persuaded  that  he  knew 
but  little  or  nothing  about  genuine,  heartfelt,  experimental 
Religion. 

As  he  rode  along  homeward  that  morning,  dejected  in 
spirit  and  worn  down  by  labor  and  loss  of  sleep,  he  became 
so  nearly  exhausted  before  noon  that  he  could  hardly  con- 
tinue his  journey.  He'  almost  sank  from  his  horse  in  a 
blind  and  heavy  stupor.  While  passing  through  the  edge 
of  a  forest,  he  paused,  intending  to  spread  his  saddle-blanket 
on  the  roadside  and  lie  down  for  an  hour's  blessed  sleep. 
"But  suppose,"  thought  he,  "that  while  I  am  sleeping 
here,  some  Calvinist  should  pass  by  and  find  me  thus?" 
and,  shaking  the  slumber  from  his  eyelids  at  the  thought, 
he  spurred  forward,  determined  to  keep  awake  till  night. 
But  even  while  fixed  in  this  prudent  purpose,  he  moved 
along  for  miles  as  unconscious  as  a  statue ;  for  nature  had 
prevailed  by  stealth,  and  he  had  fallen  asleep  as  he  rode, 
upright  in  his  saddle. 


414  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

It  should  be  mentioned  that  about  this  time,  and,  in  fact, 
before  this,  John  Smith's  less  honorable  opponents,  finding 
that  they  could  not  successfully  meet  him  in  argument, 
nor  parry  the  shafts  of  his  wit,  which  they  dreaded  more 
than  his  arguments,  attempted  to  destroy  his  influence  by 
detraction  and  slander.  They  shrunk  from  his  presence, 
and,  Shimei-like,  from  obscure  hiding-places,  cunningly 
threw  their  calumnies  upon  him  as  h.e  passed  along.  Moved 
by  these  things  only  so  far  as  they  might  affect  the  cause 
he  loved,  he  watchfully  guarded  against  every  appearance 
of  evil,  carefully  weighing  his  words  and  considering  well 
his  actions  ;  beyond  this,  he  gave  himself  but  little  concern 
that  his  defamers  were  secretly  and  persistently  busy  with 
his  reputation. 


THE  DISCIPLES  MEET  AT  SOMERSET.  415 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

North  District  meets  at  Somerset — Dissolves  her  Constitution — Resolves  to  meet 
as  Disciples,  at  Sharpsburg,  in  1832 — Address  to  the  Brethren. 

THE  day  for  the  gathering  of  the  churches  at  Somerset 
arrived.  A  large  majority  of  the  Disciples,  as  we  have 
said,  were  ready  to  dissolve  the  Association;  but  some 
were  still  fearful  that  the  spirit  of  reform  was  becoming 
wild  and  revolutionary,  and  they  paused  to  commend  a 
mpre  conservative  policy.  There  was  no  express  precept 
or  example  for  an  Association,  they  granted ;  neither  was 
there  any  law  to  forbid  it.  "  But  may  not  such  assemblies," 
they  asked,  "be  proper,  if,  indeed,  they  are  not  necessary 
to  the  welfare  of  the  Church  ? "  All  were  determined,  how- 
ever, that,  when  they  came  together,  nothing  should  be 
done  through  strife  or  vain-glory ;  that  they  would  be  one 
in  action,  though  divided,  it  might  be,  in  opinion. 

On  the  2jd  of  July,  1831,  the  Association  convened — • 
save,  indeed,  seven  churches  and  four  parts  of  churches, 
which  met  at  Howard's  Upper  Creek,  on  the  same  day — 
under  the  leadership  of  James  French  and  David  Chenault. 
Messengers  from  fourteen  churches  and  four  parts  of 
churches,  representing  thirteen  hundred  and  eighty-two 
Disciples,  were  formally  enrolled  under  the  old  Constitu- 
tion. Elder  Thomas  White  was  chosen  Moderator,  and 
Buckner  H.  Payne,  Clerk.  It  was  agreed  that 


416  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

ing  brethren  present  should  decide  among  themselves  who 
could  most  profitably  address  the  people  on  Lord's  day ; 
and,  accordingly,  John  Smith,  Peter  Hon,  and  John  N. 
Payne,  a  brother  to  the  Clerk,  occupied  the  stand,  while 
Asa  Maxey  and  Archibald  Stewart  addressed  those  "who 
assembled  in  the  house.  A  committee  had  duly  prepared 
a  table  for  the  Commemorative  Supper,  and  they  all  sat 
down,  as  one  body,  and  broke  the  loaf  together. 

On  Monday,  the  interesting  question  was  asked :  Where 
shall  the  next  Association  be  held  f  Usually,  many  churches 
claimed,  or  begged  the  honor  of  entertaining  the  next  As- 
sociation ;  but  now  no  such  claim  was  set  up,  and  no  peti- 
tion was  preferred — not  a  congregation  in  all  the  bounds 
of  North  District  proffered  either  house  or  grove ! 

"Has  the  Association  the  rig/it"  was  then  asked,  "to 
impose  itself  upon  any  church,  or  to  obtrude  upon  the  hospi- 
tality of  any  community1?"  and  a  decided  negative  vindi- 
cated the  dignity  of  the  Association  and  the  independence 
of  the  churches. 

Some  one,  at  this  interesting  crisis,  perhaps  in  the  good- 
ness of  his  heart,  sympathizing  with  the  supposed  embar- 
rassment of  the  Association,  proposed  that  it  should  hold 
its  next  meeting  in  the  woods!  He  doubtless  took  it  for 
granted  that  it  must  needs  meet  again  somewhere ;  or, 
perhaps,  he  could  not  see  that  the  glory  of  the  old  North 
District  was  about  to  pale  before  the  rising  of  the  Ancient 
and  Apostolic  Order  of  things.  "  Let  us  meet  in  the  woods 
next  year!"  said  he. 

But  the  main  question,  which  had  been  held  in  reserve, 
was  now  solemnly  propounded :  "  Is  there  any  authority  in 
the  Word  of  God  for  this  Association  to  meet  at  all?'* 
After  some  debate,  in  which  nothing  was  said  or  done  to 
give  offense,  they  finally,  and  with  much  unanimity,  re- 
solved : 


NORTH  DISTRICT  DISSOLVED.  417 

No  church  requesting  the  next  Association  to  be  appointed 
at  any  of  their  meeting-houses,  and  this  body  not  having  au- 
thority to  force  it  upon  any;  and  every  church  which  appeared 
here  by  her  letter  and  messengers  unanimously  agreeing  that  the 
Word  of  God  is  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice  for  Christians — 
on  motion  and  second,  that  the  Constitution  of  the  North  District 
Association  of  Baptists  be  dissolved — after  consultation  among 
the  brethren,  when  the  question  was  put,  it  was  carried  in  the 
affirmative;  and  the  said  Association  was  thereby  dissolved. 

Upon  after  consultation,  the  brethren  agreed  to  attend  at 
Sharpsburg,  at  the  request  of  her  messengers  in  the  name  of  the 
church,  on  the  Friday  before  the  third  Saturday,  and  the  days 
following,  in  August,  1832,  and  there  communicate  with  one 
another,  either  by  letter  or  otherwise,  such  information  respect- 
ing the  progress  and  affairs  of  each  church  as  they  may  think  of 
sufficient  importance  or  interest  to  communicate. 

North  District  Association  thereupon,  in  the  twenty- 
ninth  year. of  its  age,  formally  and  quietly  adjourned  sine 
die: 

The  Disciples  now  ordered  the  publication  of  an  ad- 
dress to  the  churches,  from  which  we  make  the  following 
extract : 

DEAR  FELLOW- CHRISTIANS: — We  have  concluded  that  it  is 
best  to  notice  .the  principal  objections  urged  against  us  by  some 
of  our  brethren,  who  have  withdrawn  their  fellowship  from  us. 
And  here  we  beg  lea've  to  remark  that,  let  those  brethren  say 
what  they  will  concerning  us,  let  us  never  speak  evil  of  them — 
never  return  railing  for  railing,  or  reproaches  for  reproaches. 
It  is  unbecoming  our  character  as  Christians  so  to  do ;  for  let 
them  act  toward  us,  or  speak  of  us  as  they  may,  their  impro- 
prieties should  rather  draw  forth  our  Christian  sympathies  and 
prayers,  and  can  never  furnish  us  with  a  justification  for  violat- 
ing that  law  of  Christ,  which  forbids  our  speaking  evil  of  any 
man.  To  err  is  human;  and  we  have  no  doubt  that  we  have 
many  errors  to  ask  forgiveness  for;  and,  whilst  that  is  the  case, 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

we  should  always  cultivate  a  forgiving,  kind,  and  charitable 
temper,  seeing  that  the  Scriptures  saith  that  "if  ye  forgive  not 
men  their  trespasses,  neither  will  your  Father  forgive  your  tres- 
passes. ' '  We  are  fully  aware  that  perfection  belongs  not  to  any 
man,  or  an  entire  exemption  from  error  to  any  body  of  people; 
and  we  should  ever  be  ready  to  accord  to  others  that  indul- 
gence for  their  weakness  and  improprieties  which  we  ask  for 
ourselves.  At  the  same  time,  we  would  remark  that,  to  persist 
in  error,  if  that  error  can  be  manifested  from  the  Word  of  God, 
we  utterly  disclaim  as  forming  any  part  of  our  character. 

The  first  objection  to  which  we  shall  call  your  attention,  as 
presented  by  our  brethren  of  the  opposition,  is,  that  we  are 
charged  with  denying  the  "special  operation  of  the  Spirit  in 
quickening  the  dead  sinner." 

In  answer  to  this,  we,  in  the  first  place,  remark,  that  the  ex- 
pression "special  operation  of  the  Spirit"  is  nowhere  to  be 
found  in  the  Bible.  In  teaching  the  Christian  religion,  in  ref- 
erence to  man's  receiving  the  Holy  Spirit,  we  prefer  using 
Bible  terms  to  those  invented  by  men,  because -the  Apostles 
would  not  speak  of  those  things  in  words  taught  by  human  wis- 
dom, but  in  "words  taught  by  the  Holy  Spirit." — i  Cor.  ii: 
13.  We  do  not  believe,  neither  have  we  ever  taught,  that  men 
can  be  Christians  without  receiving  the  Holy  Spirit;  but  the 
difference  between  us  and  our  opposing  brethren  is  this:  We 
teach  that  the  Spirit  is  received  through  faith,  whilst  we  under- 
stand them  to  teach  that  its  first  reception  and  operation  is  in 
unbelief.  We  know  of  no  promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  any 
person,  in  the  Bible,  whilst  in  unbelief;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
the  Apostle  Paul  expressly  teaches,  that  "without  faith,  it  is 
impossible  to  please  God;"  and  the  Savior  says,  John  xiv: 
17,  that  the  Comforter,  or  Holy  Spirit,  which  he  would  send, 
"the  world  can  not  receive."  Our  opposers  say  it  can — Jesus 
says  it  can  not.  Our  opposers  say  that  the  sinner  must  be  re- 
generated by  the  Spirit  before  he  believes;  Paul  says,  Gal.  iii: 
14:  "That  we  might  receive  the  promise  of  the  Spirit  through 
faith,"  and  not  in  unbelief.  The  Savior  says,  John  vii:  38, 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  HOLT  SPIRIT.  419 

39:  "He  that  believeth  (not  one  that  don't  believe)  on  me  as 
the  Scripture  hath  said,  out  of  his  belly  shall  flow  rivers  of  liv- 
ing water.  But  this  spake  he  of  the  Spirit,  which  they  that 
believe  on  him  (not  those  who  would  not  believe)  should  re- 
ceive "  (not  had  received  before  they  believed).  Again,  Paul, 
Eph.  i:  13:  "In  whom  ye  also  trusted,  after  (not  before)  that 
ye  heard  the  word  of  truth,  the  Gospel  of  your  salvation;  in 
whom  also,  after  that  ye  believed,  (not  before)  ye  were  sealed 
with  that  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,"  etc.  Again,  Gal.  iv:  6: 
"Because  ye  are  sons  (not  unbelievers),  God  hath  sent  forth 
the  Spirit  of  his  Son  into  your  hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father." 
And  Peter,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  says,  Acts  ii:  38:  "Re- 
pent, and  be  baptized,  every  one  of  you,  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ,  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall  (not  that  ye  had 
already  received,  but  ye  shall)  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost."  From  the  foregoing,  it  is  evident 'that  neither  the 
miraculous  nor  common  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  were  ever  prom- 
ised to  men  in  unbelief.  Now,  brethren,  we  know  that  if  any 
man  has  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his;  and  we  do 
teach  men  that  they  must  believe  and  obey  the  Gospel,  in  order 
t<f  the  reception  and  enjoyment  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  second  objection  is,  "that  we  teach  that  the  mere  act  of 
baptism,  or  immersion,  alone  can  wash  away  sins;  or,  in  other 
words,  that  mere  baptism  alone  constitutes  regeneration." 

In  answer  to  this,  we  say,  we  do  not  believe,  neither  do  we 
teach,  that  immersion  alone  can  wash  away  sins,  or  that  it  is  re- 
generation. But  we  do  believe  and  teach  that  "he  that  believeth 
(not  one  that  don't  believe,  or  can't  believe)  and  is  immersed, 
shall  be  saved." — Mark  xvi:  16.  And  we  do  teach  that  Peter 
(Acts  ii:  38),  did  tell  the  believing  Jews,  or  those  who  gladly  re- 
ceived the  word,  to  "Repent  and  be  immersed  for  the  remission 
of  sins;"  and  that  Ananias,  by  the  immediate  direction  of  the 
Lord,  did  say  unto  Saul  (not  that  his  sins  were  washed  away), 
but  "Arise,  and  be  immersed,  and  -wash  away  thy  sins,  calling 
upon  the  name  of  the  Lord ; ' '  that  the  Eunuch,  and  the  jailer 
with  his  household,  heard  the  word,  believed  it,  were  immersed, 


42O  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

and  did  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  etc.  And  as  the  apostles  did  thus 
teach,  so  we  believe  and  so  we  teach — and  those  things  which 
God  has  joined  together,  we  will  not  put  asunder. 

The  third  objection  is,  that  we  receive  and  administer  baptism 
tipon  a  "bare  historical  faith,"  or  that  we  will  baptize  any  per- 
son who  merely  says  he  believes  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ. 

As  to  the  term  "historical  faith,"  it  being  an  invention  of 
men,  of  which  the  Bible  knows  nothing,  we  consequently  have 
nothing  to  do  with  it ;  but  we  do  teach  that  for  a  man  to  believe 
with  all  his  heart,  through  the  teaching  or  word  of  the  apostles, 
according  to  John  xvii:  20,  and  xx:  30,  31,  and  confess  it 
with  the  mouth,  that  no  man  can  forbid  water:  for  proof  of 
which  we  refer  to  Acts  viii:  37.  And  we  know  we  are  right 
when  we  do  as  the  primitive  Christians  did  in  the  apostles'  day, 
by  the  apostles'  directions. 

The  fourth,  and  last  objection  which  we  shall  notice  for  the 
present,  is,  that  we  deny  "heart-felt  religion  or  Christian  ex- 
perience." 

This  we  do  humbly  conceive  has  arisen  from  a  misapplication 
of  terms.  We  can  not  see  how  a  man  can  have  the  experience 
of  a  Christian  until  he  is  one — all  the  workings  of  his  mind 
before  he  becomes  a  Christian,  we  could  only  call  faith  and  re- 
pentance, and  not  Christian  experience — therefore,  whatever  an 
individual  may  feel  or  experience,  either  in  mind  or  body,  of 
either  despondency,  or  hope  and  joy,  before  they  become  a 
Christian,  we  humbly  conceive  it  would  be  a  great  prostitution 
of  language  to  call  "Christian  experience"  We,  therefore,  do 
not  call  it  such,  yet  we  believe  that  every  Christian  has  felt  these 
sensations  more  or  less  vivid ;  but  we  can  not  call  or  recognize 
(neither  do  they)  any  man  or  woman  as  a  Christian  until  they 
have,  by  a  confession  with  the  mouth  of  their  faith,  and  immer- 
sion, become  one.  They  may  have  felt  all  the  dark  and  de- 
sponding sensations  commonly  talked  abo'ut,  and  all  those  happy 
and  joyous  feelings,  and  yet,  unless  they  obey  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  we  can  not  call  them  Christians,  or  invite  them  to  the 
Lord's  table;  neither  do,  or  will,  any  of  our  opposers.  Whilst 


CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  421 

we  admit,  then,  that  those  feelings  and  sensations  are  experi- 
enced by  every  person,  more  or  less,  before  they  are 'baptized, 
we  can  not,  nevertheless,  agree  to  call  it  a  "  Christian  experience," 
for  the  individual  has  not,  as  yet,  put  on  Christ.  We  believe 
that  it  is  by  faith  and  obedience  an  individual  has  the  promise 
of  the  Spirit,  and  that  they  do  feel  and  rejoice  in  rt»e  promises 
of  God;  and  we  do  set  at  naught  all  Babylonish  terms  and 
phrases  not  found  in  the  Word  of  God,  and  all  traditions,  and  all 
commandments,  and  doctrines  of  men,  and  we  urge  all  to  disre- 
gard every  thing  as  matters  of  faith  or  practice  not  found  in  the 
Word  of  God.  We,  therefore,  profess  to  be  followers  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  of  no  mortal  man,  and  our  enemies,  who,  by  way 
of  opprobrium,  call  us  followers  of  Alexr.  Campbell,  do  (while 
we  are  following  in  the  footsteps  of  Christ)  insult  the  King  of 
Saints,  by  robbing  God  of  his  own  glory  and  giving  it  to  man. 


422  LIFE  OF  ELDER   JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

The  Goshen  Calvinists  assemble  at  Howard's  Creek — Report  of  the  Committee  on 
Baptist  Customs — Smith  at  Elkhorn — Conference  of  the  Committee  with  the 
South  Elkhorn  Church — Vinegar  and  Hornets — South  Elkhorn's  Reply  to 
the  Association — That  Church  dropped — Smith  with  the  Tate's  Creek  Asso- 
ciation at  Providence — Called  to  Monticello — Design  of  Baptism — Smith's 
Advice  to  the  Brethren  at  Monticello. 

IN  taking  leave  of  the  North  District  Association,  it  is 
proper  to  relate  that  the  few  churches  and  parts  of  churches 
that  had  resolved  to  carry  out  the  policy  of  the  Goshen 
council  met,  by  their  messengers,  at  Howard's  Upper 
Creek,  in  Clark  County,  on  the  fourth  Saturday  in  July, 
1831.  In  order  to  guard  against  the  entrance  of  all  such 
mischief  as  that  which  had  so  lately  tainted  its  ortho- 
doxy and  wasted  its  strength,  this  remnant  of  a  once- 
powerful  community,  now  one  in  temper  and  opinion, 
forever  closed  the  door  against  heresy  and  innovation, 
by  solemnly  ordaining  that  henceforth  no  church  should 
be  received  into  their  fellowship  unless  by  unanimous 
consent. 

But  the  principal  business  of  these  resolute  Calvinists 
was  the  consideration  and  adoption  of  the  report  of  the 
Committee  on  Baptist  Customs  and  Usages.  As  before  re- 
lated, the  few  that  met  at  Goshen,  in  1830,  having  with- 
drawn from  the  majority  of  the  associated  churches  for 
changing  the  old  way  of  practicing  the  ordinances  of 


REPORT  ON  "BAPTIST  CUSTOMS."  423 

• 

Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  of  administering  the 
Constitution  and  the  Terms  of  Union,  appointed  seven  of 
their  wise  men  to  ascertain,  during  the  ye£r,  what  the  old 
ways  of  the  Baptists  were,  and  to  report  the  result  of  their 
research  to  Ihe  present  meeting.  Their  report  was  read, 
carefully  considered,  and,  after  due  revision,  adopted. 

Justice  to  those  inflexible  old  men,  who  spared  neither 
churches  nor  brethren,  but  renounced  friendships,  and  sac- 
rificed ecclesiastical  influence,  to  preserve  inviolate  the  bap- 
tismal and  sacramental  customs  of  their  fathers,  requires 
that  the  result  of  their  grave  and  patient  researches  should 
be  given  to  the  reader. 

After  giving  a  history  of  the  American  Baptists  from 
Roger  Williams  down  to  the  general  union  in  Virginia  and 
Kentucky  between  the  Regular  and  the  Separate  branch, 
they  conclude  their  lengthy  report  by  setting  forth  the  uni- 
form practice  of  the  churches,  as  follows : 

We  now  proceed  to  state  the  way  and  manner  of  doing  and 
performing  those  ordinances  and  religious  rites  before  named, 
as  practiced  by  the  five  classifications  of  Baptists  embraced  in 
this  report. 
*****  *  * 

Constituting  Churches. — Two  ordained  ministers,  at  least,  at- 
tend on  them  who  are  to  be  constituted  a  church.  A  constitu- 
tion, covenant,  or  creed  (whichever  you  please),  being  a  com- 
pendium of  Gospel  principles  and  duties,  is  unanimously  assented 
to  and  adopted  by  all  included  in  the  new  constitution.  The 
officiating  ministers  pray  for  them,  and  lovingly  exhort,  advise, 
and  admonish  them,  give  them  the  right  hand  of  fellowship, 
and  they  to  one  another. 

Subjects  of  Baptism. — All  those  who  know,  not  only  by  educa- 
tion, theory,  or  credence  of  others,  but  by  heart  impressions,  also, 
too  deep  and  indelible  ever  to  be  effaced,  that  they  are  undone, 
ruined,  and  guilty  before  the  Lord,  and  are  without  strength,  or 


LIFE  OP  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

hope  of  deliverance  from  the  wrath  to  come,  save  only  by  the 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Wwds  of  Baptism, — In  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Mode  of  Baptism. — The  administrator  (an  ordained  preacher) 
and  the  person  to  be  baptized  standing  in  water  of  suitable  depth, 
the  minister,  in  an  audible  voice,  pronounces  the  baptismal  words; 
then  lays  the  person  to  be  baptized  backward  into  the  water  until 
the  whole  body  is  covered  or  overwhelmed  with  water;  then  raises 
the  person  to  his,  or  her,  feet. 

Manner  of  Eating  the  Lord^s  Supper. — The  administrator  (an 
ordained  preacher),  standing  at  the  table,  after  singing  a  hymn 
of  praise,  implores  the  blessing  of  the  Lord,  breaks  the  bread 
into  pieces  small  enough  to  be  readily  taken  into  the  mouth. 
The  deacons  receive  the  bread  thus  broken,  and  laid  on  plates, 
or  some  other  like  convenience,  at  the  table,  and  present  it  to 
the  communicants,  that  every  one  may  take  a  piece.  All  being 
served  with  the  bread,  the  administrator  invokes  a  blessing, 
pours  the  wine  into  vessels  of  the  cup  kind,  and  the  deacons 
bear  it  from  the  table  to  the  communicants.  A  song  of  thanks- 
giving closes  the  solemnity. 

That  translation  of  the  Scriptures  called  King  James's  is  the 
version  that  the  five  names  of  Baptists  treated  of  in  this  re- 
port receive,  refer  to,  and  confide  in  as  authentic.  The  prin- 
ciples of  government  are  exhibited  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
council  at  Lulbegrud. 


The  committee  think  it  due  to  the  memory  of  the  preach- 
ers who  were  constituted  in  North  District  Association,  Octo- 
ber, 1802,  to  state  that  no  one  of  them,  as  far  as  known  to  the 
committee,  had  any  agency  in  those  associational  derelictions 
and  church  departures  noticed  in  the  proceedings  of  the  coun- 
cils at  Lulbegrud  and  Goshen;  but  that  those  innovations  are 
derived  elsewhere,  and  not  from  the  original  ministers  and  fa- 
thers of  North  District  Association. 


SOUTH  ELKBORN  CONDEMNED.        425- 

The  Disciples  of  the  North  District  having  now  formally 
repudiated  all  denominationalism  by  dissolving  their  Con- 
stitution and  assuming  the  position  of  independent  churches 
of  Christ,  John  Smith  went  to  be  a  witness  of  the  final 
proceedings  of  the  Elkhorn  Association  against  those  few 
Reformers  who  still  lingered  hopefully  in  her  jurisdic- 
tion. -.-  •  • 

"  How  is  it,  'Brother  John,"  once  asked  Jacob  Creath, 
"  that  you  have  singly  captured  so  many  Baptists  in  the 
North  District,  while  we  have  been  overpowered  in  the 
Elkhorn  Association  ? " 

"  You  have  used  honey  only,"  replied  Smith.  "  You  have 
hornets,  Brother  Jacob,  to  deal  with,  and  not  flies ;  noth- 
ing but  vinegar  will  do  for  them." 

The  church  at  South  Elkhorn,  where,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, Josephus  Hewitt  had  taken  refuge  from  the  wrath  of 
his  brethren,  duly  received  the  committee  sent  to  confer 
with  them  in  reference  to  the  charges  that  had  been  ex- 
hibited against  them  at  Silas.  The  question  was  asked 
by  that  church,  "  Who  gave  the  information  that  we  had 
departed  from  the  faith  and  Constitution  of  Elkhorn  ? "  and, 
though  some  of  the  committee  present  had  introduced  that 
charge  in  1830,  they  responded,  simply,  that  it  was  a  mat- 
ter of  general  rumor ;  that  their  business  at  the  present 
time  was  not  to  debate  questions  or  discuss  points  of  dif- 
ference ;  but  to  bring  to  them  the  Minutes  containing  the 
charges  which  had  been  brought  against  them  at  Silas, 
and  to  bear  their  answer  to  the  Association,  which  was  to 
convene  at  the  Great  Crossings  in  August,  1831. 

The  South  Elkhorn  Church,  after  proffering  to  the  com- 
mittee in  the  spirit  of  brethren,  their  affection  and  hospi- 
tality, during  their  stay  in  the  neighborhood,  proceeded, 
with  Jacob  Creath,  sen.,  as  Moderator,  to  prepare  a  candid, 
but  courteous  response  to  the  charges.  In  the  conclusion 
36 


'426  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

of  their  answer,  the  church  expressed  the  hope  that  the 
Association  would  reconsider  her  action  at  Silas. 

"  If  they  should  find,"  said  they,  "  that  their  proceedings 
on  that  occasion  are,  as  we  most  firmly  believe  they  are, 
calculated  to  injure  the  happiness  of  God's  people,  we  doubt 
not  they  will  be  rescinded  ;  but,  if  they  otherwise  determine, 
we  request  that  they  consider  us  no  longer  of  that  body. 
From  the  Constitution  we  learn  that  the  Association  was 
formed  for  the  mutual  happiness,  comfort,  and  welfare  of 
the  churches  composing  it ;  this  object,  we  conceive,  it  now 
fails  of  securing.  . 

"  We  do  not  wish  to  be  understood,  however,  as  renounc- 
ing fellowship  with  the  brethren  of  the  Association  ;  far 
from  it ;  we  wish  to  love  all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ ;  but  we  do  not  wish  to  be  involved  in  a  continual 
struggle  of  unhappiness  and  distress." 

Their  messengers,  now  only  three  in  number,  bore  their 
letter  to  the  Association  convened  at  the  Crossings,  and 
their  names  were  duly  enrolled.  On  Monday,  the  com- 
mittee that  had  conferred  with  them,  reported  their  pro- 
ceedings, and,  after  mature  consideration,  the  Association 
decided : 

"  Being  satisfied  that  the  church  at  South  Elkhorn  has 
departed  from  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  this  Association ; 
and,  further,  that  they  countenance  persons  professing  to 
be  the  ministers  of  Christ,  who  have  proclaimed  open  war 
with  our  Constitution,  and  who  have  heretofore  been  ex- 
cluded from  our  correspondence  for  heresy,  we  feel  our- 
selves called  upon,  in  the  perpetuation  of  good  order,  to 
drop  said  church  from  our  correspondence." 

John  Smith  was  present  with  the  Tate's  Creek  Associa- 
tion, also,  as  a  messenger  from  the  Disciples  that  had  dis- 
solved their  Association  in  July.  He  bore,  of  course,  no 
letter;  but  he  was  cordially  received  as  a  Disciple ;  for  the 


PLANTS  A   CHURCH  IN  MONTICELLO.  427 

twelve  churches,  now  assembled  at  Mount  Nebo  as  the 
Tate's  Creek  Association,  with  Josiah  Collins  as -their 
Moderator,  were  the  same  that  had  been  censured  by  the 
unrelenting  Calvinists  at  New  Providence,  in  1831.  Smith 
occupied  the  stand  on  Lord's  day,  and  with  his  usual  power 
addressed  the  multitude,  now,  at  last,  in  full  sympathy 
with  him,  as  one  of  the  boldest,  ablest,  and  most  discreet 
of  the  Reformers. 

On  his  return  home,  he  was  much  gratified  to  find  a 
letter  from  a  prominent  citizen  of  Monticello,  who,  though 
not  a  professor  of  religion,  urged  him  to  visit  that  place 
again,  at  his  earliest  convenience.  He  went  down  in 
October,  and  on  presenting  the  Gospel  to  them,  nine  per- 
sons, among  the  best  citizens  of  the  place,  professed  faith, 
and  were  baptized  for  the  remission  of  their  sins.  "  Not," 
as  Smith  was  wont  to  say,  "  that  the  water  has  any  virtue 
to  cleanse  from  sin,  or  that  baptism,  or  any  thing  else 
that  a  sinner  may  do,  can  atone  for  the  guilt  of  his  soul ; 
for  pardon  is  only  through  the  blood  of  Christ ;  but  this 
is  ordained  to  bring  us  to  a  knowledge  and  enjoyment 
of  that  pardon,  which  we  receive  only  through  the  blood 
of  the  Lamb." 

"But  what  shall  we  now  do?"  said  those  few  Disci- 
ples, after  they  had  been  immersed  ;  "  no  church  here 
will  receive  us,  and  we  have  no  one  to  teach  us." 

"  Meet  every  Lord's  day,"  replied  Smith.  "  If  others 
occupy  the  meeting-house,  meet  in  your  own  houses  and 
gather  around  your  own  firesides.  If  you  can  not  ex- 
hort one  another,  pray  together  ;  or,  if  you  can  not  do  that, 
then  read  the  Book  and  sing." 

They  followed  his  advice,  and  grew  in  grace  and  in 
knowledge ;  and  soon,  one  of  them  began  to  speak  in 
public,  much  to  the  comfort  and  edification  of  the  little 
church. 


428  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

The  Arians — Their  Views  opposed  to  Calvinism — The  Atonement — Trinity — 
The  Bible  the  only  Creed — The  name  Christian — Prejudices  of  the  Reform- 
ers— The  lees  of  Calvinism — Religious  Freedom — Christians  and  Disciples 
meet  on  the  King's  Highway — Sketch  of  Barton  Warren  Stone — His  Views — 
Points  of  Difference — Ground  of  Union — Position  of  Alexander  Campbell — 
His  view  of  Christian  Union  illustrated  in  the  case  of  Aylett  Raines — Stone's 
view  of  Opinion  as  a  Bond  of  Union — Campbell's  Reply — Obstacles  in  the 
way  of  Union — The  difficulties  discussed  by  Stone  and  Campbell. 

THE  reader  will  remember  that  the  North  District  Asso- 
ciation, in  1828,  though  composed  largely  of  Reformers,  had, 
with  great  unanimity,  resolved  to  countenance  no  church 
that  would  commune  with  Arians.  Yet  the  Baptists  of  the 
Mayslick  church,  two  years  afterward,  complained  that  these 
same  Reformers  had  trampled  on  the  feelings  of  their  breth- 
ren by  encouraging  Arians  to  occupy  their  meeting-houses. 
The  Bracken  Association,  also,  about  the  same  time,  de- 
clared that  the  Reformers,  whom  they  had  just  cast  out, 
"  would  not  have  been  satisfied  until  they  had  brought  into 
the  churches,  and  to  the  communion  table,  every  thing 
that  professed  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  had  been  baptized 
for  the  remission  of  sins,  regardless  whether  they  were 
Arians  or  any  thing  else." 

Perhaps  no  two  religious  parties  in  the  land,  at  that 
time,  were  further  removed  from  each  other  by  mutual 
prejudices,  doctrinal  differences,  and  diverse  customs  than 


THE  CHRISTIANS  AND  THE  CALVINISTS.          429 

the  Baptists  and  these  Arians,  or,  as  they  were  invidiously 
called,  Newlights,  or  Stoneites.  These  differed  from  the 
Calvinists  in  their  views  of  the  Trinity,  and  of  the  nature, 
ground,  and  extent  of  the  atonement.  They  had,  besides, 
renounced  all  human  creeds,  and,  for  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, had  been  urging  the  union  of  all  believers  on  the 
Scriptures  as  the  only  standard  of  faith  and  duty.  They 
had  refused  to  be  called  by  any  sectarian  name,  and  had 
taken  that  of  Christian,  in  the  belief  that  it  was  the  name 
divinely  conferred  on  the  disciples  at  Antioch.  Though 
generally  immersionists,  they  fraternized  with  the  unim- 
mersed,  and  admitted  them,  without  scruple,  to  their  com- 
munion. f. 

The  Baptists,  on  the  other  hand,  especially  those  of  the 
regular  school,  hejd,  as  an  .essential  element  of  the  Christian 
faith,  and  the  very  foundation  of  all  communion  with  God, 
that  in  the  divine  and  infinite  Being  there  are  three  sub- 
sistencies — Father,  Word,  or  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit — of  one 
substance,  power,  and  eternity.  Each  of  these  has  the 
whole  divine  Essence,  yet  the  Essence  is  undivided.  The 
Father  is  of  none,  neither  begotten  nor  proceeding ;  the 
Son  is  eternally  begotten  of  the  Father,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  proceeds  from  the  Father  and  the  Son.  All  are 
infinite,  without  beginning,  and,  therefore,  but  one  God, 
who  is  not  to  be  divided  in  nature  and  being,  but  is  dis- 
tinguished by  several  peculiar  relative  properties  and  per- 
sonal attributes. 

They  held,  also,  that  Christ  underwent  the  punishment 
due  to  the  sinner,  and,  by  his  perfect  obedience,  and  the 
sacrifice  of  himself  in  the  blood  of  his  cross,  made  a  proper, 
real,  and  full  satisfaction  to  God's  justice,  and  fully  dis- 
charged the  debt  of  those  whom  the  Father  had  given  to 
him,  and  for  whom  only  he  thus  died ;  or,  as  they  some- 
times sang: 


430  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOI1N  SMITH. 

"  He  for  the  sins  of  all  th'  elect, 

Has  a  complete  atonement'made  ; 
And  justice  never  can  expect 

That  those  same  debts  should  twice  be  paid." 

They  generally  regarded  a  creed,  or  covenant,  as  essen- 
tial to  the  purity  of  the  faith,  and  the  unity  of  the  Church. 
They  wore  their  distinctive  name,  not  only  without  distrust 
of  its  propriety,  but  with  complacency,  if  not  with  pride. 
They  were,  as  we  have  seen,  almost  without  exception, 
strict,  or  close,  communionists,  and  very  zealous  for  the 
traditions  and  usages  of  their  society. 

Conceiving  that  no  other  view  of  the  atonement  could 
be  scriptural  than  that  which  thus  regarded  it  as  a  scheme 
of  substitution  and  imputation,  limited  in  application  or 
design,  they  looked  on  the  Christians,  who  rejected  that 
view  of  it,  as  the  worst  of  heretics,  and  but  little  better 
than  infidels. 

No  doctrines  had  been  more  readily  received  or  more 
tenaciously  held  by  the  Reformers  while  Baptists  than  the 
divine  Trinity  and  the  vicarious  atonement  of  Christ;  and 
they,  too,  had  looked,  with  something  like  horror,  on  a 
people  that  denied,  as  they  erroneously  supposed  the  Chris- 
tians did,  the  preciousness  of  the  blood  of  Jesus,  and 
taught  that  the  blood  of  Paul,  or  Peter,  or  even  of  goats 
and  pigeons,  would  have  been  just  as  efficacious.  It  was 
not  strange,  then,  that,  in  1828,  the  Reformers  of  the  North 
District,  ignorant  of  the  real  doctrine  of  the  Christians, 
united  with  their  Calvinistic  brethren  in  a  resolution  to 
withdraw  from  every  church  or  Association  that  would  com- 
mune with  such  a  people; -nor  was  it  strange  that  the 
Calvinists  of  Bracken,  in  1830,  regarded  it  as  evidence  of 
the  hopeless  apostasy  of  the  Reformers  that  they  could,  at 
last,  encourage  these  Arians  to  occupy  their  meeting- 
houses. 


THE  CHRISTIANS  AND  THE  DISCIPLES.  431 

Though  the  Reformers  had  renounced  creeds,  voted  out 
covenants,  and  dissolved  Associations,  yet  many  brought 
over  with  them,  into  their  new  estate,  some  of  their  old 
opinions,  habits  of  thought,  and  even  prejudices — the  lees 
of  orthodoxy  and  sectarianism — which  were  but  slowly  re- 
linquished by  some,  and  which  clung  to  others  as  long  as 
they  lived. 

"  I  rejoice  in  the  freedom  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,"  said 
a  distinguished  Reformer,  one  day,  to  John  Smith,  while 
exulting  in  his  imaginary  deliverance  from  all  his  former 
errors  and  prejudices ;  "  I  rejoice  in  the  liberty  wherewith 
Christ  has  made  me  free.  I  feel  that  the  last  vestige  of 
my  old  Calvinism  is  gone  forever,  and  that  its  harsh  spirit 
will  never  again  cramp  a  single  thought  or  impulse  of  my 
heart." 

"  My  dear  brother,"  said  Smith,  who  well  knew  the  power 
of  Calvinism  over  a  mind  that  had  once  been  under  its  in- 
fluence, and  who  had  detected  some  traces  of  it  still  in  the 
'Character  or  theology  of  his  friend,  "you  have,  it  is  true, 
given  up  your  Calvinism  as  a  system ;  you  may  have 
drained  out  the  last  drop  from  the  cask,  but  the  very 
hoops  and  staves  smell  of  it  still ! " 

But  the  more  liberal  Disciples  were  not  long  in  discov- 
ering that  the  Christians,  like  themselves,  had  rebelled 
against  the  tyranny  of  opinion ;  that  though  they  nursed 
with  something  like  fondness  their  peculiar  views  respect- 
ing the  doctrine  of  Reconciliation  by  Christ,  yet  they  were 
neither  Arians  nor  Latitudinarians.  They  saw,  too,  that 
those  despised  Christians  had  been  laboring  with  good  in- 
tent, and  with  a  zeal  that  sometimes  arose  to  enthusiasm, 
to  heal  the  wounds  which  schism  had  made  in  the  body 
of  Christ ;  that,  to  this  end,  they  had  renounced  all  creeds 
but  the  Bible,  and  all  names  but  that  of  Christian;  and 
for  this  they  had  suffered  reproach  till  they  had  become 


43 2  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

a  hissing  and  by-word  to  every  sect  around  them.  1  F.e 
dream  of  a  peaceful  and  universal  brotherhood  of  believ- 
ers had  given  them  evangelical  zeal ;  when  they  and  the 
rejected  Reformers  met,  therefore,  on  the  King's  highway, 
they  talked  freely  together  of  the  liberty  which  each,  un- 
der Christ,  had  asserted  at  so  much  cost,  and  of  their 
common  loyalty  to  him,  whom  each  acknowledged  as  the 
only  Head  of  the  Church.  A  common  reproach  daily 
weakened  their  prejudices  against  each  other,  and  quick- 
ened the  growth  of  sympathy  between  them,  and  they 
began  at  last  to  feel  that  differences  of  opinion  ought  not 
to  keep  apart  those  who  were  one  in  faith  and  purpose, 
and  who  had,  in  fact,  with  equal  firmness,  renounced  opin- 
ion as  a  bond  of  union  among  the  children  of  God. 

Barton  W.  Stone,  the  earliest  and  ablest  advocate  of 
the  doctrines  of  the  Christians  in  the  West,  was  born  in 
Maryland,  on  the  24th  day  of  December,  1772.  His  fa- 
ther dying  while  he  was  very  young,  his  mother,  with  a 
large  family  of  children  and  servants,  moved  into  the 
backwoods  of  Virginia.  Here  he  went  to  school  for  four 
or  five  years.  In  1790,  however,  he  entered  an  academy 
in  Guilford,  North  Carolina,  determined,  as  he  says,  "to 
acquire  an  education,  or  die  in  the  attempt."  His  design 
at  that  time  was  to  qualify  himself  for  the  practice  of 
law. 

When  he  entered  the  academy,  about  thirty  or  more  of 
the  students  had  embraced  religion,  under  the  labors  of 
James  McGready ;  and,  in  about  a  year  from  that  time, 
after  a  long  and  painful  experience,  he,  too,  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  turned  his  thoughts 
to  the  ministry. 

At  the  close  of  his  academic  course,  he  commenced  the 
study  of  Divinity.  Witsius  on  the  Trinity  was  put  into 
his  hands;  but  the  metaphysical  reasonings  of  that  au- 


BARTON  WARREN  STONE.  433 

thor  perplexed  his  mind,  and  he  laid  the  work  aside  as 
unprofitable  and  unintelligible.  Having  heard  of  Dr. 
Watts's  treatise  on  the  Glory  of  Christ,  he  obtained  the 
work,  read  it  with  pleasure,  and  embraced  its  views.  The 
presbyter  on  whom  his  examination  devolved  had  himself 
embraced  Watts's  views  of  the  Trinity,  and  his  examina- 
tion on  this  topic,  to  avoid  discussion  perhaps,  was  short, 
embracing  no  peculiarities  of  the  system. 

In  April,  1796,  he  was  licensed  to  preach,  and,  shortly 
afterward,  he  directed  his  course  westward — first  into 
Tennessee,  and  thence,  about  the  close  of  the  year  1796, 
to  Bourbon  County,  Kentucky.  Here  he  settled  within 
the  bounds  of  the  congregations  of  Cane  Ridge  and  Con- 
cord, where  he  labored  with  great  zeal  and  success. 
•  In  the  fall  of  1798  he  received  a  unanimous  call  from 
those  congregations  to  become  their  settled  pastor,  and  a 
day  was  set  apart  by  the  Presbytery  of  Transylvania  for 
his  ordination.  Having  previously  notified  the  leading 
members  of  the  Presbytery  of  his  difficulties  on  the  sub- 
jects of  the  Trinity,  Election,  Reprobation,  and  Predesti- 
nation, as  taught  in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  when  he  was 
asked :  "  Do  you  receive  and  adopt  the  Confession  of  Faith 
as  containing  the  system  of  doctrine  taught  in  the  Bible?" 
he  answered  aloud,  so  that  the  whole  congregation  might 
hear,  "  I  do,  so  far  as  I  see  it  consistent  with  the  Word  of 
God."  No  objection  being  made,  he  was  ordained. 

Early  in  1801,  "the  Great  Revival"  commenced  in  the 
southern  part  of  Kentucky,  under  the  labors  of  James 
McGready  and  other  Presbyterian  ministers.  Determined 
to  hear  and  judge  for  himself,  he  hastened  to  a  great  camp- 
meeting  in  Logan  County,  Kentucky,  where,  for  the  first 
time,  he  witnessed  those  strange  exercises,  of  which  we 
have  elsewhere  spoken. 

Filled  with  the  spirit  of  the  revival,  he  returned  to  his 
37 


434  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

congregations,  related  what  he  had  seen  and  heard,  and, 
with  great  earnestness  and  zeal,  dwelt  on  the  universality 
of  the  Gospel,  and  urged  the  sinner  to  believe  now  and  be 
saved.  The  effects  were  immediate  and  powerful ;  the 
"exercises"  made  their  appearance;  a  series  of  meetings 
followed ;  the  work  spread  in  all  directions ;  multitudes 
united  with  the  different  churches ;  and,  for  a  time,  party 
creeds,  names  and  feelings,  seemed  to  be  lost  in  Christian 
love  and  union. 

The  "Great  Cane  Ridge  Meeting"  commenced  in  August 
following.  Many  had  come  from  Ohio  and  other  remote 
parts,  who,  on  their  return,  diffused  the  same  spirit  in 
their  respective  neighborhoods.  Methodist  and  Baptist 
preachers  united  heartily  in  the  work,  and  the  salvation  of 
sinners  seemed  to  be  the  great  object  of  all. 

St'one  and  four  other  ministers,  all  members  of  the 
synod  of  Kentucky,  now  renounced  the  dogmas  of  Calvin- 
ism, and  taught,  wherever  they  went,  that  Christ  died  for 
all ;  that  the  divine  testimony  was  sufficient  to  produce 
faith,  and  that  the  Spirit  was  received,  not  in  order  to 
faith,  but  through  faith.  At  length,  the  friends  of  the 
Confession  determined  to  arrest  the  progress  of  these  anti- 
Calvinistic  doctrines.  One  of  them  was  taken  under  deal- 
ings by  the  Presbytery  of  Springfield,  in  Ohio,  and  the 
case  finally  came  before  the  synod  of  Lexington,  Ky.,  in 
September,  1803. 

Discovering,  from  the  tone  of  the  Synod,  that  its  decision 
would  be  adverse,  the  five  ministers  drew  up  a  protest 
against  the  proceedings,  and  a  declaration  of  their  inde- 
pendence, and  of  their  withdrawal  from  that  body.  They 
at  once  constituted  themselves  into  what  they  called  the 
Springfield  Presbytery.  They  soon  saw,  however,  that 
this  name  savored  of  a  sectarian  spirit;  and  they  re- 
nounced it,  and  took  the  name  Christian. 


BARTON  WARREN  STONE.  435 

*  In  1804,  Stone's  mind  became  embarrassed  on  the 
subject  of  the  Atonement.  He  had  believed  and  taught 
that  Christ  died  as  a  Substitute  or  surety  in  our  stead,  and 
to  make  satisfaction  to  law  and  justice  for  our  sins,  in 
order  to  justification.  It  seemed  to  him,  on  reviewing 
these  principles,  that  either  Universalism,  or  Calvinistic 
Election  and  Reprobation,  necessarily  followed.  He  in- 
dulged no  doubt,  however,  that  both  of  these  systems  were 
false.  He  determined,  therefore,  to  divest  himself  as  much 
as  possible  of  all  preconceived  opinions,  and  to  search  the 
Scriptures  daily  for  the  truth.  Driven  from  the  doctrine 
of  suretyship  as  unscriptural — wrong  even  in  civil  policy 
as  well  as  in  religion — he  rejected  that  also  which  repre- 
sented Jesus  as  dying  in  order  to  reconcile  the  Father  to 
us.  In  the  end,  he  came  to  regard  atonement  as  meaning 
at-one-ment,  or  the  restoration  of  the  union  between  God 
and  man.  Sin,  he  saw,  had  separated  God  and  man,  who 
were  formerly  at  one,  when  man  was  holy.  Jesus  was  sent 
to  save  him  from  his  sins,  and  to  make  him  holy.  This 
effected,  God  and  man  are  at  one  again,  without  any 
change,  however,  in  God,  the  whole  change  being  in  man  ; 
and  this  change  is  effected  through  faith  in  Jesus,  who 
lived,  died,  and  rose  again.  The  whole  efficacy  of  the 
blood  of  Christ  passes  on  man  to  reconcile  him  to  God — 
to  lead  him  to  repentance  and  to  remission  of  sin — to  jus- 
tify and  to  sanctify  him. 

About  this  time  the  subject  of  baptism  began  to  arrest 
the  attention  of  the  churches.  Many  became  dissatisfied 
with  their  infant  sprinkling,  and  wished  to  be  immersed. 
But  the  question  arose,  who  would  baptize  them  ?  The 
Baptists  would  not  do  it  unless  they  would  become  Bap- 
tists ;  and  there  were  no  Elders  among  the  Christians  that 


Biography  of  Stone,  by  John  Rogers. 


436  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

had  ever  been  immersed.  It  was  finally  agreed  that  those 
who  were  authorized  to  preach,  were  authorized  to  baptize ; 
accordingly,  the  preachers  began  to  baptize  one  another, 
and  then  the  people  came  and  were  baptized  by  them ;  and 
immersion  soon  became  general  among  them. 

Stone  and  some  others  now  began  to  conclude  also  that 
baptism  was  ordained  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ought 
to  be  administered  in  the  name  of  Jesus  to  all  believing 
penitents.  But  though  he  held  and  taught  that  view  of 
baptism  then,  yet  in  time,  it  strangely  passed  from  his 
mind,  and  he  was  never  fully  led  into  the  spirit  of  the  doc- 
trine, until  it  was  revived  by  Alexander  Campbell  a  few 
years  afterward. 

In  1809,  aided  by  others,  he  began  to  preach  far  and 
near,  and  to  found  churches  throughout  Ohio,  Kentucky, 
and  Tennessee.  In  Ohio,  at  one  time,  he  was  providen- 
tially led  to  speak  before  an  Association  of  Separate  Bap- 
tists, already  well  disposed  toward  him  and  his  brethren ; 
and  such  was  the  influence  of  his  character  and  the  power 
of  his  discourse  on  that  occasion,  that  the  whole  Associa- 
tion, including  twelve  Elders,  resolved  to  throw  away  their 
creed  and  name,  and,  taking  instead  the  Bible  and  the 
name  Christian,  to  labor  with  him  in  the  great  work  of 
Christian  union. 

Although  he  repudiated  the  orthodox  views  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Trinity,  Sonship,  and  Atonement,  he  never  ac- 
knowledged the  sentiments  which  were  attributed  to  him  by 
his  opponents.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  he  often  re- 
gretted that  he  had  allowed  himself  to  be  driven,  in  self-de- 
fense, to  speculate  on  these  subjects  as  he  had  done.  In  the 
near  prospect  of  death,  he  averred  that  he  had  never  been  a 
Unitarian,  and  had  never  regarded  Christ  as  a  created  being.* 


'James  Shannon,  in  Collins's  "History  of  Kentucky." 


CHRISTIAN  UNION.  437 

In  the  year  1826,  while  living  in  Georgetown,  Scott 
County,  Ky.,  he  began  to  publish  a  periodical,  called  the 
Christian  Messenger,  which  soon  had  a  large  patronage,  and 
a  great  influence.  The  influence  also  of  the  Christian 
Baptist  was  already  beginning  to  be  felt,  not  only  among 
the  Baptist  churches  in  Kentucky,  but  also  among  the 
Christians  themselves.  In  a  very  few  years,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  Disciples,  condemned  and  cast  out  by  their 
brethren  as  heretical  or  disorderly,  had  gathered  them- 
selves into  churches,  without  any  distinctive  party  name 
or  man-made  creed,  as  a  bond  of  union.  They  were,  in  1831, 
perhaps  about  eight  thousand  strong ;  the  Christians  were 
about  equal  in  number. 

"  The  only  distinguishing  doctrine  between  us,"  *  says 
Stone,  in  expressing  his  own  view  of  the  teaching  of  the 
Disciples  at  that  time,  "  was  that  they  preached  baptism 
for  the  remission  of  sins  to  believing  penitents.  This  doc- 
trine had  not  generally  obtained  among  us,  though  some 
few  had  received  it,  and  practiced  accordingly.  They  in- 
sisted, also,  upon  weekly  communion,  which  we  had  neg- 
lected." 

While  the  Christians  had  sought  to  effect  the  union  of 
all  Christ's  people,  by  persuading  them  to  accept  the  Scrip- 
tures as  their  only  creed,  and  the  name  Christian  as  di- 
vinely called  upon  them,  yet  many  were  willing  to  adopt 
as  more  simple,  scriptural,  and  practicable,  the  terms  of 
union  presented  by  Alexander  Campbell. 

"He  developed  to  us," f  says  one  of  the  earliest  and 
most  devoted  friends  of  Stone,  "  not  only  the  true  design 
of  baptism,  but  also  the  true  basis  of  Christian  union." 

The  Bible  as  the  only  creed,  and  Christian  as  the  only 
name,  was  the  ground  of  union  defined  by  Stone ;  while 


*  Biography  of  B.  W  Stone,  p.  77.  f  Elder  John  Rogers. 


438  'LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Campbell  urged,  that  a  belief  with  all  the  heart  that  Jesus 
is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God — which  is  emphatically  the 
creed  of  every  Christian  church — and  obedience  to  his 
authority  in  the  ordinance  of  baptism,  are  the  only  Scrip- 
tural prerequisites  to  membership  in  any  Christian  con- 
gregation. He  insisted,  however,  as  necessary  to  the  pres- 
ervation of  union,  that  opinions  should  be  held  in  liberty 
and  prudence,  as  private  judgments,  and  that  all  public 
utterances  respecting  those  abstruse  questions  which  had 
divided  Christians,  should  be  strictly  in  the  style  and  lan- 
guage of  the  Bible. 

The  great  proposition,  which  asserted  so  broadly  and 
unequivocally  the  essence  of  religious  liberty,  was  set  forth 
and  maintained  by  both  with  equal  zeal,  if  not  ability. 
They  both  contended  that  no  man  or  body  of  men  have 
any  divine  warrant  to  set  up  their  explanation  of  Scripture 
truths  as  tests  of  Christian  character.  The  opposite  posi- 
tion, that  others  have  a  right  to  interpret  for  us  the  Scrip- 
tures, the  creed  of  each  individual  Disciple,  and  to  impose 
their  explanations  upon  us  as  essential  to  our  salvation, 
was  regarded  as  the  very  essence  of  religious  bondage,  and 
the  source  of  religious  persecution.  This  was  practically 
the  main  issue  between  the  two  reforming  brotherhoods,  on 
the  one  side,  and  the  denominational  parties  around  them, 
on  the  other  ;  and  this  was  the  vital  principle,  which  in 
1831  began  to  bring  the  Christians  and  the  Disciples,  in 
spite  of  their  former  prejudices,  into  sympathy  and  frater- 
nal accord. 

The  position  of  Alexander  Campbell,  in  reference  to  the 
union  of  Christians,  was  very  early  defined,  in  a  practical 
way,  by  an  incident  which  we  here  reproduce  from  the 
Millennial  Harbinger,  vol.  i,  p.  147. 

"Will  you  receive  a  Universalist?"  some  one  is  supposed  to 
ask.  No,  not  as  a  Universalist.  If  a  man,  professing  Univer- 


PRIVATE  OPINIONS.  439 

salist  opinions,  should  apply  for  admission,  we  will  receive  him, 
if  he  will  consent  to  use  and  apply  all  the  Bible  phrases  in  their 
plain  reference  to  the  future  state  of  men  and  angels.  We  will 
not  hearken  to  those  questions  which  gender  strife,  nor  discuss 
them  at  all.  If  a  person  say  such  is  his  private  opinion,  let  him 
have  it  as  his  private  opinion ;  but  lay  no  stress  upon  it ;  and,  if 
it  be  a  wrong  private  opinion,  it  will  die  a  natural  death  much 
sooner  than  if  you  attempt  to  kill  it. 

In  illustration  of  this  most  interesting  point,  I  beg  leave  to  in- 
troduce a  narrative,  which  justifies  the  course  here  recommended, 
and  presents  it  in  a  very  eligible  character,  to  the  advocates  of 
the  Ancient  Order  of  things: 

In  the  year  1828,  when  the  Gospel,  as  taught  by  the  apostles, 
was  proclaimed  with  so  much  power  in  the  Western  Reserve, 
Ohio,  by  our  brothers  Scott,  Bently,  Rigdon,  and  others,  some 
of  all  sects  obeyed  it.  Among  these,  some  Methodist  and  two 
Universalist  preachers  were  immersed  for  the  remission  of  their 
sins.  One  of  these  Universalist  preachers  appeared  at  the 
Mahoning  Association,  held  in  Warren,  in  the  month  of  Au- 
gust, 1828.  He  was  invited  to  deliver  an  oration  at  an  early 
period  of  the  session  of  the  Association,  He  did  so.  Many  of 
the  brethren  heard  him  with  great  pleasure ;  but  some,  remem- 
bering that  he  had,  only  a  few  weeks  before,  proclaimed  Uni- 
versalism,  or  some  species  of  Restorationism,  could  not  be  alto- 
gether reconciled  to  invite  him  to  a  seat,  and  to  treat  him  as  a 
brother.  Indeed,  some  worthy  brothers  were  intent  on  having 
a  motion  made,  calling  on  this  Brother  Raines  for  an  unequivocal 
declaration  of  his  opinions  upon  the  restoration  scheme,  to  which 
he  was  suspected,  by  some,  as  still  partial.  It  was  intended,  by 
some  members,  to  non- fellowship  this  brother  if  he  avowed  these 
principles.  Some  opposed  this  measure;  but,  finally,  Brother 
Raines  arose,  and  in  a  very  clear  and  forcible  manner,  and  with 
all  deference,  declared  that  when  he  obeyed  the  Gospel,  he  had, 
as  he  thought,  virtually  renounced  sectarianism,  and  did  not  ex- 
pect that  the  disciples  of  Christ  were  to  judge  him  for  his  private 
opinions.  It  was  true,  he  said,  that  many  of  his  former  opin- 


440  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

ions  remained.  These  opinions  he  did  not  wish  to  inculcate ; 
but,  if  he  were  asked  to  avow  his  private  opinions  concerning 
his  former  peculiarity,  he  must  confess  that  he  was  substantially 
of  the  same  opinion  still. 

This  greatly  alarmed  some  of  the  brothers,  and  they  were 
prepared  either  to  renounce  him,  or  to  withdraw  from  the  Asso- 
ciation if  he  wefe  acknowledged.  Some  of  us  made  a  proposi- 
tion that  if  these  peculiar  opinions  were  held  as  private  opinions, 
and  not  taught  by  this  brother,  he  might  be,  and  constitutionally 
ought  to  be,  retained ;  but,  if  he  should  teach  or  inculcate  such 
private  opinions,  or  seek  to  make  disciples  to  them,  he  would 
then  become  a  factionist,  and,  as  such,  could  not  be  fellow- 
shiped. 

Whether  he  held  those  views  as  matters  of  faith,  or  as  pure 
matters  of  opinion,  was  then  propounded  to  him.  He  avowed 
them  to  be,  in  his  judgment,  matters  of  opinion,  and  not  mat- 
ters of  faith ;  and,  in  reply  to  another  question,  averred  that  he 
would  not  teach  them,  believing  them  to  be  matters  of  opinion, 
and  not  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  Although  a  majority  of  the 
brethren  were  satisfied,  still  a  number  were  not  reconciled  to 
this  decision.  It  was  repeatedly  urged  that  it  mattered  not 
what  his  private  opinions  were  on  this  subject,  provided  he  re- 
garded them  only  as  matters  of  opinion,  and  held  them  as  private 
property. 

I  urged  this  course  from  the  conviction  that,  if  these  opinions 
were  not  agitated  nor  discussed,  the  Ancient  Gospel  would  cause 
them  to  wither  away.  This  was  my  philosophy  then,  and,  being 
much  pleased  with  this  brother,  I  had  no  doubt,  from  his  very 
handsome  address  and  acquirements,  he  would  be  a  very  useful 
laborer  in  the  great  field.  I  only  heard  of  him  a  few  times  since ; 
but  the  other  day  I  received  the  following  letter  from  him, 
which,  I  think,  proves  the  wisdom  of  the  course  pursued,  and 
goes  far  to  recommend  the  principles  contended  for  in  this  article. 
*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

Mr.  Campbell  continues: 

Reason  and  experience  unite  their  testimony  in  assuring  us 


OPINIONS  AS  TERMS  OF  FELLOWSHIP.  44! 

that,  in  the  same  proportion  as  individuals  labor  to  be  of  one 
opinion,  they  /disagree.  The  greater  the  emphasis  laid  upon 
opinions,  the  more  rapidly  they  generate.  The  nearest  ap- 
proaches to  a  unity  of  opinion  which  I  have  ever  witnessed, 
have  appeared  in  those  societies  in  which  no  effort  was  made  to  be 
of  one  opinion ;  in  which  they  allowed  the  greatest  liberty  of 
opinion,  and  in  which  they  talked  more  and  boasted  more  of 
the  glory  and  majesty  of  the  great  facts,  the  wonderful  works 
of  God's  loving-kindness  to  the  children  of  men,  than  of  them- 
selves, their  views,  and  attainments. 

I  am  greatly  deceived  in  all  my  reasonings,  and  observation 
has  misled  me,  if  any  society,  pursuing  the  principle  we  have 
suggested,  will  ever  be  troubled  with  Unitarians,  Trinitarians, 
Universalists,  Arminians,  Calvinists,  etc.;  and,  under  such  a 
course  of  procedure  as  that  recommended  here,  all  will  see 
that  such  systems  and  schismatical  tenets  could  never  originate. 
If  I  were  to  attempt  to  produce  the  greatest  uniformity  of 
opinion,  I  would  set  about  it  by  paying  no  respect  to  opinions, 
laying  no  emphasis  upon  them,  admiring  and  contemning  no 
opinion  as  such.  But,  if  I  wished  to  produce  the  greatest  dis- 
crepancies in  opinion,  I  would  call  some  damnably  dangerous, 
others,  of  vital  importance.  I  would  always  eulogize  the  sound, 
and  censure  the  erroneous  in  opinion.  We  all  know  that  strife 
is  like  the  bursting  forth  of  water — it  always  widens  the  chan- 
nels ;  and  many  a  broil  in  churches,  neighborhoods,  and  families, 
would  have  been  prevented  if  the  first  indication  had  been 
sympathetically  attributed  to  the  infirmity  of  human  nature. 

Barton  W.  Stone,  in  1831  (Christian  Messenger,  vol.  v, 
p.  19),  says,  in  substance: 

Christians  can  not  be  blamed  for  their  different  opinions  when 
they  have  honestly  searched  for  the  truth.  My  opinion  is  that 
immersion  is  only  baptism;  but  shall  I,  therefore,  make  my  opin- 
ion a  term  of  Christian  fellowship  ?  If,  in  this  case,  I  thus  act, 
where  shall  I  cease  from  making  my  opinions  terms  of  fellowship? 
I  confess  I  see  no  end.  But  one  may  say  that  immersion  is  so 


442  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

plainly  tne  meaning  of  Christian  baptism  that  he  knows  not  how 
any  honest  man  can  be  ignorant  of  it.  This  is  the  very  language 

of  all  opinionists One  may  say  my  idea  of  baplism, 

as  meaning  immersion,  is  not  an  opinion,  but  a  fact.  So  say  the 
orthodox  respecting  many  of  their  unscriptural  opinions,  and 
they  are  as  firmly  persuaded  of  them  as  you  can  be  respecting 
immersion  not  being  an  opinion  of  baptism.  Here,  again,  a 
disinterested  umpire  is  needed.  The  case  I  shall  leave  sub  ju- 
dice,  till  a  satisfactory  determination  of  the  matter  be  made. 

'  "But,"  says  one,  "I  can  not  have  communion  with  an  un- 
immersed  person,  because  he  is  not  a  member  of  the  Church 

of  Christ,  however  holy  and  pious  he  may  be." 

Shall  we  say  all  are  the  enemies  of  Christ  who  are  not  immersed? 
We  dare  not.  If  they  are  not  enemies,  or  if  they  are  not  against 
him,  they  are  for  him,  and  with  him.  Shall  we  reject  those  who 
are  with  Jesus  from  us  ?  Shall  we  refuse  communion  with  those 
with  whom  the  Lord  communes  ?  Shall  we  reject  those  who  fol- 
low not  with  us  in  opinion  ?  Shall  we  make  immersion  the  test 
of  religion  ?  Shall  we  center  all  religion  in  this  one  point  ? 

Says  Mr.  Campbell,  in  reply  (Mill.  Har.,  vol.  ii,  p.  103) : 

But  opinions  are  always,  in  strict  propriety  of  speech,  doubt- 
ful matters,  because  speculative.  If  ever  the  word  be  applied  to 
matters  of  testimony,  to  laws,  institutions,  or  religious  worship, 
we  must  be  confounded  in  our  faith  and  practice.  If  opinion  ap- 
ply equally  to  immersion  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  then 
it  will  apply  equally  to  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead,  eternal  life,  and  every  item  of  the  Christian  faith 

and  hope I  know  that  baptism  means  immersion 

as  certainly  as  I  know  that  manus  means  a  hand,  and  penna,  a 
pen ;  or  as  certainly  as  I  know  that  sprinkling  is  not  pouring,  and 
pouring  is  not  dipping 

We  are  represented  as  refusing  communion  with  him  with 
whom  God  communes,  if  we  do  not  recognize  as  a  fellow-citi- 
zen every  one  whom  God  regards  as  one  of  his  people.  Has 
God  anywhere  commanded  us  to  sit  down  at  the  Lord's  table 


OBJECTIONS  TO  A   UNION.  443 

with  a  person  who  refuses  to  be  immersed  because  he  was  sprink- 
led? Or  has  he  enjoined  upon  me  to  treat  any  person  as  a 
brother  in  the  Lord,  because  he  has  recognized  him  as  such, 
when  he  fails  to  keep  the  ordinances  of  the  Lord?  It  is  only 
in  obedience  to  the  Lord,  not  on  the  principle  of  expediency, 
but  because  the  Lord  has  enjoined  it,  that  we  are  to  associate 
with  any  person  as  a  brother  in  the  Lord.  Nor  do  I  say  that 
none  are  Christians  but  those  who  walk  orderly:  we  only  say 
that  we  are  commanded  to  associate  with  those  only  who  walk 
orderly.  If  we  can  dispense  with  the  neglect  or  disobedience 
of  one  Christian,  we  may  with  another;  and  so  on,  till  we  have 
in  the  church  all  the  vices  of  the  world 

In  August,  1831,  Stone  again  writes  (Christian  Messen- 
ger, vol.  v) :  ^  , 

The  question  is  going  the  round  of  society,  and  is  often  pro- 
posed to  us,  Why  are  not  you  and  the  Reformed  Baptists  one 
people?  or,  Why  are  you  not  united?  We  have  uniformly  an- 
swered: In  spirit  we  are  united,  and  that  no  reason  exists  on 
our  side  to  prevent  the  union  in  form We  ac- 
knowledge a  difference  of  opinion  from  them  on  some  points. 
We  do  not  object  to  their  opinions,  as  terms  of  fellowship  be- 
tween us ;  but  they  seriously  and  honestly  object  to  some  of  ours 
as  reasons  why  they  can  not  unite.  These  we  shall  name;  and 
let  all  duly  consider  their  weight : 

i.  That  we  have  fellowship  and  communion  with  unimmersed 
persons.  They  contend — so  we  understand  them — that,  accord- 
ing to  the  New  Institution,  none  but  the  immersed  have  their 
sins  remitted,  and,  therefore,  they  can  not  commune  with  the 
unimmersed.  On  this  point  we  can  not  agree  with  them;  and 
the  reason  of  our  disagreement  is,  that  this  sentiment,  in  our 
view,  will  exclude  millions  of  the  fairest  characters,  for  many 
centuries  back,  from  heaven I  know  our  breth- 
ren say:  "  We  do  not  declare  that  they  are  excluded  from  heaven, 
but  only  from  the  kingdom  on  earth.  We  leave  them  in  the  hand 
of  God."  But  does  not  this  sentiment  lead  to  that  conclusion? 


444  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

We  believe  and  acknowledge  that  baptism  is  ordained  by  the 
King  a  means  for  the  remission  of  sins  to  penitent  believers, 
but  we  can  not  say  that  immersion  is  the  sine  qua  non,  without 
maintaining  the  awful  consequences  above,  and"  without  contra- 
dicting our  own  experience.  We,  therefore,  teach  the  doctrine, 
"Believe,  repent,  and  be  immersed  for  the  remission  of  sins," 
and  we  endeavor  to  convince  our  hearers  of  its  truth,  but  we  ex- 
ercise patience  and  forbearance  toward  such  pious  persons  as  can 
not  be  convinced. 

2.  Another  cause  or  reason  why  they  and  we  are  not  united 
as  one  people  is,  that  we  have  taken  different  names.  They 
acknowledge  the  name  Christian  most  appropriate;  but  because 
they  think  this  name  is  disgraced  by  us  who  wear  it,  and  that  to 
it  may  be  attached  the  idea  of  Unitarian  or  Trinitarian,  they 
reject  it,  and  have  taken  the  older  name  Disciple.  This  they 
have  done  in  order  to  be  distinguished  from  us.  Hence  it  is 
concluded  that  they  wish  to  be  a  party  distinguished  from  us, 
and  have,  therefore,  assumed  this  name  as  a  party  name.  This 
at  once  bars  us  from  union  in  the  same  body ;  and  we  can  not 
but  believe  it  was  assumed  for  this  purpose  by  some.  We 
should  rejoice  to  believe  the  contrary.  Until  a  satisfactory  ex- 
planation be  given  on  this  subject,  we  must  view  ourselves 
V  equally  excluded  from  union  with  the  congregations  of  the  Dis- 
ciples, as  from  any  other  sectarian  establishment.  We  object 
not  to  the  scriptural  name  Disciple,  but  to  the  reasons  why  our 
brethren  assumed  it. 

We  are  ready  any  moment  to  meet  and  unite  with  those 
brethren,  or  any  others,  who  believe  in  and  obey  the  Savior,  ac- 
cording to  the  best  understanding  of  his  will,  on  the  Bible,  but 
not  on  opinions  of  its  truth.  We  can  not,  with  our  present 
views,  unite  on  the  opinion  that  unimmersed  persons  can  not  re- 
ceive the  remission  of  sins,  and,  therefore,  should  be  excluded 
from  our  fellowship  and  communion  on  earth.  We  can  not  con- 
scientiously give  up  the  name  Christian,  acknowledged  by  our 
brethren  most  appropriate,  for  any  other,  as  Disciple,  less  appro- 
priate, and  received,  or  assumed,  to  avoid  the  disgrace  of  being 


IMMERSION,  AND  THE  NAME.  445 

suspected  to  be  a  Unitarian  or  Trinitarian.  We  can  not  thus 
temporize  with  divine  truth. 

Thus  it  seems,  as  Mr.  Campbell  observes,  that  it  was  not 
really  because  of  any  difference  in  their  views  of  the  design 
or  meaning  of  baptism,  that  the  Christians  thought  .that 
they  could  not  be  one  with  the  Disciples ;  for,  in  their  views 
of  this  matter,  they  seemed  generally  to  agree ;  but  it  was 
the  practice  of  the  former  in  receiving  the  unimmersed  to 
their  communion  and  fellowship  that  seemed  to  present  a 
barrier  to  the  union.  Said  Mr.  Campbell,  substantially : 

But  that  God's  rule  or  principle  of  rewarding  men  hereafter, 
is  to  be,  as  near  as  we  can  guess  at  it,  the  rule  of  our  conduct  to 
them  in  receiving  them  into  his  kingdom  on  earth,  and  in  treat- 
ing them  as  members  of  it,  is  inadmissible.  The  question  is, 
Are  we  authorized  to  make  the  sincerity  and  honesty  of  a  per- 
son's mind  a  rule  of  our  conduct  ?  It  is  God  alone  who  is  judge 
of  this ;  and  surely  he  would  not  require  us  to  act  by  a  rule  which 
we  can  never  apply  to  the  case.  Neither,  perhaps,  is  it  a  fair 
position  to  assume  that  any  man's  sincerity  in  opinion  or  belief 
will  have  any  weight  in  the  final  judgment ;  but  whether  it  will 
or  not,  it  can  not  be  a  rule  of  our  proceeding  in  any  case.  We 
judge  from  actions;  God  judges  the  heart,  and,  therefore,  we  look 
for  visible  obedience,  and,  when  we  are  assured  that  the  Lord 
•has  commanded  every  man  to  confess  him  or  to  profess  the  faith, 
and  be  immersed  into  his  name,  we  can  never  justify  ourselves 
before  God  or  man  in  presuming  in  our  judgment  of  charity  to 
set  aside  his  commandment,  and  in  accepting  for  it  a  human 

substitute We  have  no  objection  to  the  name 

Christian,  if  we  only  deserve  it;  nor  predilection  for  the  name 
Disciple,  except  for  its  antiquity  and  modesty;  but,  when  it  is 
plead  for  as  of  divine  authority,  and  as  the  only  or  most  fitting 
name  which  can  be  adopted,  we  must  lift  up  our  voice  against 
the  imposition,  and  contend  for  our  liberty  where  the  Lord 
has  left  us  free.  Would  to  God  that  all  professors  could  be  ad- 
dressed as  saints,  faithful  brethren,  Disciples  indeed,  Christians. ' ' 


446  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

In  fine,  while  both  labored  for  the  union  of  Christians, 
Mr.  Campbell  thought  that  the  only  practicable  way  to  ac- 
complish it  was  to  propound  the  Ancient  Gospel  and  the 
Ancient  Order  of  Things  in  the  words  and  sentences  found 
in  the  Apostolic  writings  ;  to  abandon  all  traditions  and 
usages  not  found  in  the  Record,  and  to  make  no  human 
terms  of  communion.  Elder  Stone  urged,  more  emphat- 
ically, but  not  in  opposition  to  this  sentiment,  the  com- 
munion of  Christians  in  the  spirit  of  the  Bible,  rather  than 
a  formal  union  on  that  Book.  He  exhorted  his  brethren 
to  seek  for  more  holiness  rather  than  trouble  themselves 
and  others  with  schemes  and  plans  of  union.  "  The  love 
of  God,"  said  he,  "  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  given  unto  us,  will  more  effectually  unite  than  all 
the  wisdom  of  the  world  combined." 


JOHN  T.  JOHNSON.  447 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

John  T.  Johnson  withdraws  from  the  Baptist  Church — Disciples  at  the  Crossings— 
Their  fellowship  with  the  Christians — Union  proposed — Smith  in  sympathy- 
Johnson  and  Stone  become  co-editors  of  the  "Messenger" — Campbell  en- 
courages the  Union — Smith  in  private  conference  at  Georgetown — Union 
determined — Ways  and  means  discussed — Union  Meeting  at  Georgetown — 
Great  Meeting  at  Lexington — Stone  and  Smith  selected  to  speak — Critical 
moment — Smith's  address — He  lays  down  the  principle  of  Union — Stone 
follows,  and  indorses  his  position — They  shake  hands — A  joyful  occasion — 
The  Union  virtually  accomplished — Terms  and  Nature  of  that  Union — Ques- 
tions and  Answers — Simultaneous  Efforts  in  Indiana  and  Tennessee — John 
Longley  and  Griffith  Cathey — Imprudent  Reformers  and  prejudiced  Chris- 
tians— Smith  and  Rogers  set  apart  as  Evangelists — Their  Compensation — 
Union  in  Lexington  delayed — Elder  Thomas  M.  Allin. 

JOHN  T.  JOHNSON,  of  whom  Barton  W.  Stone  said  there 
was  no  better  man,  began,  about  the  year  1829,  while  a 
member  of  the  Baptist  church  at  the  Great  Crossings,  to 
examine,  in  the  light  of  his  Bible,  what  was  vulgarly  called 
Campbellism.  He  finally  received  it  as  the  doctrine  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  contended  for  it  with  zeal  in  the  private 
circle  of  his  friends,  till,  at  last,  anxious  that  all  should 
see  and  feel  as  he  did,  he  began  to  preach  it  publicly  as 
the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints.  He  saw,  in  the 
principles  which  he  had  embraced,  the  true  basis  for  the 
union  of  Christians,  and  the  only  means  for  the  conversion 
of  the  world ;  and  he  resolved  to  devote  all  his  powers  to 
the  work  of  reforming  the  Church  and  saving  the  world, 


448  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

He  prudently  sought,  first,  to  enlighten  the  congregation 
of  which  he  was  a  member ;  but  his  efforts  were  scorned, 
and  he  went  forth  to  build  on  the  Bible  alone.  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1831,  he  and  only  two  others  withdrew  from  the 
Baptist  church  at  the  Great  Crossings,  and  formed  them- 
selves into  a  congregation  of  Disciples.  Two  or  three 
more  were  added  by  baptism  at  their  first  meeting;  and, 
from  that  time,  having  surrendered  a  lucrative  practice  of 
the  law,  he  gave  hirnself  wholly  to  the  work  of  preaching 
the  Gospel. 

"  My  emancipation  from  a  sectarian  institution,"  says 
he,*  "  resulted  in  an  intimate  acquaintance  and  firm  friend- 
ship with  that  eminent  man  of  God,  Elder  Barton  W. 
Stone,  deservedly  the  most  eminent  preacher  in  the  Chris- 
tian connection  in  the  West."  They  lived  together  in,  or 
near,  Georgetown,  and  soon  each  plainly  saw  that  there 
was  no  scriptural  barrier  to  their  union.  They  encouraged 
a  fraternal  sentiment  among  the  members  of  their  congre- 
gations, and  the  brethren  of  both  churches  at  last  met  and 
worshiped  together.  They  all  saw  more  and  more  clearly, 
every  day,  that  they  were  indeed  on  the  same  foundation, 
in  the  same  spirit,  and  with  the  same  Gospel,  and  that 
there  was  no  reason  why  they  should  not  be  of  one  family. 

Among  those  who  watched  the  development  of  this  fra- 
ternal spirit  among  the  Disciples  and  Christians  about 
Georgetown,  no  one  more  deeply  sympathized  with  it,  or 
more  cordially  approved  and  encouraged  it,  than  John 
Smith.  There  were  but  few,  if  any,  of  the  persecuted 
Arians  within  the  bounds  of  the  North  District  Associa- 
tion ;  but  his  eye  turned  to  the  little  handful  of  Disciples 
at  the  Great  Crossings,  and  to  the  neighboring  Christians 
of  Georgetown — to  Johnson  and  to  Stone,  as  those  who 


*  Biography  of  J.  T.  Johnson,  by  John  Rogers. 


UNION  PROPOSED.  449 

seemed  to  be  called,  in  the  providence  of  God,  to  lead  in 
the  work  of  uniting  the  two  brotherhoods  together.  He 
could  not,  therefore,  have  staid  away  from  them.  In  fact, 
they  sent  for  him,  and,  in  November,  1831,  he  went  to  the 
Great  Crossings,  and  there  labored  in  the  Gospel  for  some 
days  with  Johnson  and  his  brethren.  Accessions  were 
gained,  and  the  number  of  Disciples  at  that  place  was  in- 
creased to  about  forty. 

"We  rejoice,"  says  Alexander  Campbell,  when  speaking 
of  that  meeting,  "  to  hear  that  the  utmost  harmony  and 
Christian  love  prevail,  not  only  among  the  disciples  com- 
posing that  congregation,  but  between  them  and  the  dis- 
ciples meeting  under  the  Christian  name  in  connection 
with  Brother  Stone,  in  Georgetown,  notwithstanding  the 
sparrings  between  us  editors." 

To  further  the  cause  of  union,  Johnson  agreed  to  become 
a  co-editor  of  the  Christian  Messenger,  an  arrangement 
which  went  into  effect  in  January  following.  In  the  mean- 
time, an  informal  and  private  conference  was  held  in 
Georgetown  some  time  before  the  close  of  the  year,  at 
which  John  Smith,  John  Rogers,  and  perhaps  others,  were 
present ;  the  subject  of  a  general  union  of  the  churches 
was  discussed,  its  importance  and  practicability  were  ad- 
mitted, and  the  time  and  manner  of  effecting  it  were  con- 
sidered. To  this  great  work,  John  Smith  was  willing  to 
give  what  time  he  could  spare  from  his  needy  family,  and, 
visiting  the  congregations  of  Christians  and  Reformers 
throughout  the  State,  labor  to  conciliate  and  unite  them ; 
and  John  Rogers  was  ready^,  if  necessary,  to  do  the  same. 
They  decided,  however,  to  hold  a  four-days'  union  meet- 
ing at  Georgetown,  embracing  Christmas  day,  and  after- 
ward, a  similar  meeting  at  Lexington,  on  New  Year's  day, 
and  to  invite  teachers  and  brethren  from  abroad  to  be  pres- 
ent. On  these  occasions,  many  of  both  parties  assembled 
38 


450  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

and  they  worshiped  and  counseled  together  with  one  spirit 
and  one  accord. 

At  Lexington,  especially,  on  New  Year's  day,  pursuant 
to  the  notice  very  generally  given,  many  Disciples  and 
Christians  came  together  to  talk  over,  once  more,  and 
finally,  the  points  of  difference  between  them,  to  ascertain 
whether  the  proposed  union  were  practicable,  and,  if  so,  to 
agree  upon  the  terms  on  which  it  should  be  effected.  It 
was  not  a  meeting  of  Elders  or  Preachers  only,  but  a  pop- 
ular assembly — a  mass  meeting  of  the  brethren. 

While  many  had  laid  aside  their  prejudices,  and  were 
ready  to  consummate  the  union,  some  of  each  party  still 
cherished  honest  doubts  respecting  the  doctrine  of  the 
others.  Some  Reformers  still  looked  upon  the  Christians 
as  Arians  ;  and  some  Christians  were  adverse  to  the  union, 
in  the  belief  that  the  Reformers  denied  the  influence  of 
the  Spirit,  and  attached  undue  importance  to  baptism.  On 
the  other  hand,  while  the  Christians  still  refused  to  give  up 
their  name,  the  others  were  willing  to  concede  that  it  was 
no  less  scriptural  and  proper  than  Disciple.  While  all 
did  not  hold  in  the  same  sense  that  baptism  was  for  the 
remission  of  sins,  they  all  agreed  that  it  was  a  divine  ordi- 
nance, which  could  not  safely  be  set  aside  or  neglected. 
Finally,  though  they  still  differed  on  the  question  of  free 
or  restricted  communion,  each  felt  that  it  was  his  privilege 
to  commune  with  the  other,  since  they  were  all  of  one 
faith  and  one  immersion. 

On  Saturday,  the  appointed  day,  a  multitude  of  anxious 
brethren  began,  at  an  early  hour,  to  crowd  the  old  meeting- 
house of  the  Christians,  on  Hill  Street,  in  Lexington. 
There  were  Stone,  and  Johnson,  and  Smith,  and  Rogers, 
and  Elley,  and  Creath,  and  many  others,  all  guarded  in 
thought  and  purpose  against  any  compromise  of  the  truth, 
but  all  filled  with  the  spirit  of  that  grandest  of  prayers, 


UNION  DISCUSSED.  451 

"  May  they  all  be  one,  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me  and  I  in 
thee ;  that  the  world  may  know  that  thou  hast  sent  me." 

Smith  was  informed  that  it  had  been  arranged  that  one 
from  each  party  should  deliver  an  address,  and  plainly  set 
forth,  according  to  his  own  conception,  the  scriptural 
ground  of  union  among  the  people  of  Christ.  He  was 
also  told  that  he  had  been  selected  by  the  Disciples,  and 
Stone  by  the  Christians  ;  and  that  it  was  the  wish  of  the 
brethren  that  they  should  avoid  the  spirit  and  manner  of 
controversy,  and  give  their  views  of  the  plan  of  union 
freely,  but  without  reference  to  party  distinctions.  When 
this  had  been  announced,  the  two  brethren  went  aside, 
and  conferred  in  private.  Neither  knew  certainly  what  the 
other  would  say  in  the  critical  hour  which  had  now  come 
upon  the  churches  ;  nor  did  either,  in  that  moment  of 
solemn  conference,  ask  the  other  to  disclose  his  mind  or 
heart,  touching  their  differences,  more  fully  than  he  had 
already  done. 

"  What  is  your  choice,  my  brother  ? "  said  Stone,  at 
length.  "  Will  you  speak  first,  or  last  ? " 

"Brother  Stone,  I  have  no  choice,"  said  Smith.  "I 
have  already  made  up  my  mind  about  the  matter ;  and 
what  I  have  to  say  can  be  said  as  well  at  one  time  as  at 
another." 

"  I  wish  you  to  talk  first,  then,"  said  Stone,  "  and  I  will 
follow."  And  they  returned  to  the  house,  as  the  hour  for 
speaking  had  already  come. 

The  occasion  was  to  John  Smith  the  most  important 
and  solemn  that  had  occurred  in  the  history  of  the  Refor- 
mation. It  was  now  to  be  seen  whether  all  that  had  been 
said,  and  written,  and  done  in  behalf  of  the  simple  Gospel 
of  Christ,  and  the  union  of  Christians,  was  really  the  work 
of  the  Lord,  or  whether  the  prayers  of  Stone,  and  of  John- 
son, were  but  idle  longings  of  pious,  yet  deluded  hearts  ; — 


45 2  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

whether  the  toils  and  sacrifices  of  Smith  were  but  the 
schismatic  efforts  of  a  bold  enthusiast ; — and  whether  the 
teachings  of  Campbell  were  only  the  speculations  of  a 
graceless  and  sensuous  philosophy.  The  denominations 
around  mocked,  and  declared  that  a  church  without  a  con- 
stitution could  not  stand,  and  that  a  union  without  a  creed 
was  but  the  chimera  of  a  dreamy  and  infatuated  heresy. 

Smith  arose  with  simple  dignity,  and  stood,  prayerful 
and  self-possessed,  before  the  mingling  brotherhoods.  He 
felt,  as  no  one  else  could  feel  it,  the  weight  of  the  re- 
sponsibility that  rested  on  him.  A  single  unscriptural 
position  taken — the  least  sectarian  feeling  betrayed — an 
intemperate  word — a  proud,  unfraternal  glance  of  the 
eye — might  arouse  suspicion  and  prejudice,  and  blast  the 
hope  of  union  in  the  very  moment  when  it  was  budding 
with  so  many  promises.  Every  eye  turned  upon  him,  and 
every  ear  leaned  to  catch  the  slightest  tones  of  his  voice. 
He  said : 

God  has  but  one  people  on  the  earth.  He  has  given  to  them 
but  one  Book,  and  therein  exhorts  and  commands  them  to  be 
one  family.  A  union,  such  as  we  plead  for — a  union  of  God's 
people  on  that  one  Book — must,  then,  be  practicable. 

Every  Christian  desires  to  stand  complete  in  the  whole  will 
of  God.  The  prayer  of  the  Savior,  and  the  whole  tenor  of  his 
teaching,  clearly  show  that  it  is  God's  will  that  his  children 
should  be  united.  To  the  Christian,  then,  such  a  union  must 
be  desirable. 

But  an  amalgamation  of  sects  is  not  such  a  union  as  Christ 
prayed  for,  and  God  enjoins.  To  agree  to  be  one  upon  any 
system  of  human  invention  would  be  contrary  to  his  will,  and 
could  never  be  a  blessing  to  the  Church  or  the  world;  there- 
fore the  only  union  practicable  or  desirable  must  be  based  on 
the  Word  of  God,  as  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice, 

There  are  certain  abstruse  or  speculative  matters — such  as  the 


THE  GROUND   OF   UNION  DEFINED.  453 

mode  of  the  Divine  Existence,  and  the  Ground  and  Nature  of 
the  Atonement— -that  have,  for  centuries,  been  themes  of  discus- 
sion among  Christians.  These  questions  are  as  far  from  being 
settled  now  as  they  were  in  the  beginning  of  the  controversy. 
By  a  needless  and  intemperate  discussion  of  them  much  feeling 
has  been  provoked,  and  divisions  have  been  produced. 

For  several  years  past  I  have  tried  to  speak  on  such  subjects 
only  in  the  language  of  inspiration ;  for  it  can  offend  no  one  to 
say  about  those  things  just  what  the  Lord  himself  has  said.  In 
this  scriptural  style  of  speech  all  Christians  should  be  agreed. 
It  can  not  be  wrong — it  can  not  do  harm.  If  I  come  to  the 
passage,  "My  Father  is  greater  than  I,"  I  will  quote  it,  but 
will  not  stop  to  speculate  upon  the  inferiority  of  the  Son.  If 
I  read,  "Being  in  the  form  of  God,  he  thought  it  not  robbery 
to  be  equal  with  God,"  I  will  not  stop  to  speculate  upon  the 
consubstantial  nature  of  the  Father  and  the  Son.  I  will  not 
linger  to  build  a  theory  on  such  texts,  and  thus  encourage  a 
speculative  and  wrangling  spirit  among  my  brethren.  I  will 
present  these  subjects  only  in  the  words  which  the  Lord  has 
given  to  me.  I  know  he  will  not  be  displeased  if  we  say  just 
what  he  has  said.  Whatever  opinions  about  these  and  similar 
subjects  I  may  have  reached,  in  the  course  of  my  investiga- 
tions, if  I  never  distract  the  church  of  God  with  them,  or  seek 
to  impose  them  on  my  brethren,  they  will  never  do  the  world 
any  harm. 

I  have  the  more  cheerfully  resolved  on  this  course,  because 
the  Gospel  is  a  system  of  facts,  commands,  and  promises,  and 
no  deduction  or  inference  from  them,  however  logical  or  true, 
forms  any  part  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  No  heaven  is 
promised  to  those  who  hold  them,  and  no  hell  is  threatened 
to  those  who  deny  them.  They  do  not  constitute,  singly  or 
together,  any  item  of  the  ancient  and  apostolic  Gospel. 

While  there  is  but  one  faith,  there  may  be  ten  thousand 
opinions;  and  hence,  if  Christians  are  ever  to  be  one,  they 
must  be  one  in  faith,  and  not  in  opinion.  When  certain  sub- 
jects arise,  even  in  conversation  or  social  discussion,  about 


454  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

which  there  is  a  contrariety  of  opinion  and  sensitiveness  of 
feeling,  speak  of  them  in  the  words  of  the  Scriptures,  and  no 
offense  will  be  given,  and  no  pride  of  doctrine  will  be  encour- 
aged. We  may  even  come,  in  the  end,  by  thus  speaking  the 
same  things,  to  think  the  same  things. 

For  several  years  past,  I  have  stood  pledged  to  meet  the  re- 
ligious world,  or  any  part  of  it,  on  the  ancient  Gospel  and  or- 
der of  things,  as  presented  in  the  words  of  the  Book.  This  is 
the  foundation  on  which  Christians  once  stood,  and  on  it  they 
can,  and  ought  to,  stand  again.  From  this  I  can  not  depart 
to  meet  any  man,  or  set  of  men,  in  the  wide  world.  While, 
for  the  sake  of  peace  and  Christian  union,  I  have  long  since 
waived  the  public  maintenance  of  any  speculation  I  may  hold, 
yet  not  one  Gospel  fact,  commandment,  or  promise,  will  I  surren- 
der for  the  world  ! 

Let  us,  then,  my  brethren,  be  no  longer  Campbellites  or 
Stoneites,  New  Lights  or  Old  Lights,  or  any  other  kind  of 
lights,  but  let  us  all  come  to  the  Bible,  and  to  the  Bible  alone, 
as  the  only  book  in  the  world  that  can  give  us  all  the  Light 
we  need. 

He  sat  down,  and  Stone  arose,  his  heart  glowing  with 
love,  and  every  pulse  bounding  with  hope.  "  I  will  not 
attempt,"  said  he,  "  to  introduce  any  new  topic,  but  will  say 
a  few  things  on  the  same  subjects  already  presented  by 
my  beloved  brother." 

After  speaking  for  some  time  in  a  strain  of  irresistible 
tenderness,  he  said  "  that  the  controversies  of  the  Church 
sufficiently  prove  that  Christians  never  can  be  one  in  their 
speculations  upon  those  mysterious  and  sublime  subjects, 
which,  while  they  interest  the  Christian  philosopher,  can 
not  edify  the  Church.  After  we  had  given  up  all  creeds 
and  taken  the  Bible,  and  the  Bible  alone,  as  our  rule  of 
faith  and  practice,  we  met  with  so  much  opposition,  that 
by  force  of  circumstances,  I  was  led  to  deliver  some  specu- 
lative discourses  upon  those  subjects.  But  I  never 


UNION  ACCOMPLISHED.  455 

preached  a  sermon  of  that  kind  that  once  feasted  my 
heart ;  I  always  felt  a  barrenness  of  soul  afterwards.  I 
perfectly  accord  with  Brother  Smith  that  those  specula- 
tions should  never  be  taken  into  the  pulpit ;  but  that  when 
compelled  to  speak  of  them  at  all,  we  should  do  so  in  the 
words  of  inspiration. 

"  I  have  not  one  objection  to  the  ground  laid  down  by 
him  as  the  true  scriptural  basis  of  union  among  the  peo- 
ple of  God ;  and  I  am  willing  to  give  him,  now  and  here, 
my  hand." 

He  turned  as  he  spoke,  and  offered  to  Smith  a  hand 
trembling  with  rapture  and  brotherly  love,  and  it  was 
grasped  by  a  hand  full  of  the  honest  pledges  of  fellowship, 
and  the  union  was  virtually  accomplished ! 

It  was  now  proposed  that  all  who  felt  willing  to  unite  on 
these  principles,  should  express  that  willingness  by  giving 
one  another  the  hand  of  fellowship ;  and  elders  and  teachers 
hastened  forward,  and  joined  their  hands  and  hearts  in  joy- 
ful accord.  A  song  arose,  and  brethren  and  sisters,  with 
many  tearful  greetings,  ratified  and  confirmed  the  union. 
On  Lord's  day,  they  broke  the  loaf  together,  and  in  that 
sweet  and  solemn  communion,  again  pledged  to  each  other 
their  brotherly  love. 

This  union  of  the  Christians  and  the  Disciples  was  not 
a  surrender  of  the  one  party  to  the  other  ;  it  was  an  agree- 
ment of  such  as  already  recognized  and  loved  each  other 
as  brethren,  to  work  and  to  worship  together.  It  was  a 
union  of  those  who  held  alike  the  necessity  of  implicit  faith 
and  of  unreserved  obedience ;  who  accepted  the  facts,  com- 
mands, and  promises  as  set  forth  in  the  Bible ;  who  con- 
ceded the  right  of  private  judgment  to  all ;  who  taught  that 
opinions  were  no  part  of  the  faith  delivered  to  the  saints ; 
and  who  were  now  pledged  that  no  speculative  matters 
should  ever  be  debated  to  the  disturbance  of  the  peace  and 


456  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

harmony  of  the  Church,  but  that  when  compelled  to  speak 
on  controverted  subjects,  they  would  adopt  the  style  and 
language  of  the  Holy  Spirit 

It  was  an  equal  and  mutual  pledge  and  resolution  to 
meet  on  the  Bible  as  on  common  ground,  and  to  preach 
the  Gospel  rather  than  to  propagate  opinions.  The  breth- 
ren of  Stone  did  not  join  Alexander  Campbell  as  their 
leader,  nor  did  the  brethren  of  Campbell  join  Barton  W. 
Stone  as  their  leader  ;  but  each,  having  already  taken  Jesus 
the  Christ  as  their  only  Leader,  in  love  and  liberty  became 
one  body ;  not  Stoneites,  or  Campbellites  ;  not'  Christians, 
or  Disciples,  distinctively  as  such ;  but  Christians,  Disciples, 
saints,  brethren,  and  children  of  the  same  Father,  who  is 
God  over  all,  and  in  all. 

His  cooperation  with  Stone  and  Johnson  in  the  work  of 
bringing  the  two  parties  together,  John  Smith  always  re- 
garded as  the  best  act  of  his  life.  "  But  do  you  not  fear," 
said  a  timid  and  dissatisfied  brother  to  him  that  day,  "  that 
what  you  have  now  done  will  drive  your  old  Baptist  breth- 
ren still  further  from  you  ?  You  can  not  overcome  their 
prejudices  against  the  Arians ;  and  it  was  certainly  bad 
policy  to  raise  this  new  barrier  between  them  and  the 
Reformation." 

"I  know  not,"  said  Smith  in  reply,  "how  that  may  be; 
but  certain  I  am  that  the  union  of  Christians,  upon  a  scrip- 
tural basis,  is  right,  and  that  it  can  never  be  bad  policy  to 
do  what  is  right." 

"Are  there  no  differences  of  opinion  between  you  and 
the  Reformers  ? "  inquired  others  about  that  time. 

"  We  answer,  we  do  not  know,"  said  the  Christians, 
"nor  are  we  concerned  to  know;  we  have  never  asked 
them  what  their  opinions  were,  nor  have  they  asked  us. 
If  they  have  opinions  different  from  ours,  they  are  wel- 
come to  have  them,  provided  they  do  not  endeavor  to  im- 


DOUBTS  AND  FEARS.  457 

pose  them  on  us  as  articles  of  faith;  and  they  say  the 
same  of  us." 

"But,  have  you  no  creed  or  confession  as  a  common 
bond  of  union  ? " 

"  We  answer,  yes  ;  we  have  a  perfect  one,  delivered  to  us 
from  heaven,  and  confirmed  by  Jesus  and  his  apostles — 
the  New  Testament" 

"  How  will  you  now  dispose  of  such  as  profess  faith  in 
Jesus  and  are  baptized?  To  which  party  will  they  be  at- 
tached as  members  ? " 

"  We  answer,  we  have  no  party.  It  is  understood  among 
us  that  we  feel  an  equal  interest  in  every  church  of  Christ, 
and  we  are  determined  to  build  up  all  such  churches  with- 
out any  regard  to  their  former  names." 

"  But  will  the  Christians  and  the  Reformers  thus  unite 
in  other  sections  of  the  country  and  in  other  States?" 

"We  answer,  if  they  are  sincere  in  their  profession,  and 
destitute  of  a  party  spirit,  they  will  undoubtedly  unite. 
But,  should  all  elsewhere  act  inconsistently  with  their  pro- 
fession, we  are  determined  to  do  what  we  are  convinced  is 
right  in  the  sight  of  God." 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  at  the  very  time  when  these 
events  were  transpiring  in  Kentucky,  the  spirit  of  union 
was  prevailing  over  sectarian  prejudice  in  other  States 
also.  John  Longley,  a  Christian,  writing  to  Elder  Stone, 
from  Rush  County,  Indiana — the  home  of  John  P.  Thomp- 
son— under  date  of  the  twenty-fourth  of  December,  1831, 
says  : 

"  The  Reforming  Baptists  and  we  are  all  one  here.  We 
hope  that  the  dispute  between  you  and  Brother  Camp- 
bell, about  names  and  priority,  will  forever  cease,  and  that 
you  will  go  on,  united,  to  reform  the  world." 

Griffith  Cathey,  of  Tennessee,  on  the  fourth  of  January, 
1832,  writes,  in  substance: 
39 


458  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

The  members  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  the  members 
known  by  the  name  of  Disciples,  or  Reformed  Baptists,  regard- 
less of  all  charges  about  Trinitarianism,  Arianism,  and  Socinian- 
ism,  and  of  the  questions,  whether  it  is  possible  for  any  person 
to  get  to  heaven  without  immersion,  or  whether  immersion  is 
for  the  remission  of  sins,  have  come  forward,  given  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship,  and  united  upon  the  plain  and  simple  Gos- 
pel. 

It  should  be  added,  however,  that  in  some  parts  of  the 
country,  especially  in  Ohio,  the  prejudices  of  many  of  the 
Christians  could  not  be  allayed,  and  some  of  them  un- 
kindly upbraided  Stone  and  his  brethren  for  their  course. 
In  fact,  a  few  Disciples  in  those  places,  pushed  reform  to 
extremes,  and,  in  abandoning  one  class  of  errors,  ran  with 
thoughtless  zeal  into  others.  Some  publicly  and  zealously 
contended  that  sinners  should  not  pray,  nor  Christians 
pray  for  them.*  They  would  not  even  pray  for  the  Divine 
assistance,  when  declaring  the  Word  to  the  people.  Thus, 
while  one  class  of  religionists  in  the  country  dared  not 
preach  the  word  to  sinners,  in  order  that  they  might  be 
left  to  the  converting  power  of  the  Spirit  alone,  others 
would  not  now  invoke  the  Spirit  in  their  preaching,  but 
trusted  to  the  influence  of  the  Word  alone.  Some,  too, 
rejected  from  Christianity  all  that  had  not  been  baptized 
for  the  remission  of  their  sins,  and  all  that  did  not  yet  ob- 
serve the  weekly  communion.  Some  Christians,  conclud- 
ing such  to  be  the  doctrine  and  feeling  of  all  the  Disciples, 
rushed  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and  opposed  the  Reforma- 
tion as  a  spiritless,  prayerless,  and  dangerous  religion ; 
and,  instead  of  allaying  prejudice,  they  strengthened  it, 
both  by  their  preaching  and  their  writings. 

In  order  to  consummate  the  union,  John  Smith  and 


*  Biography  of  B.  W.  Stone,  p.  78. 


SET  APART  AS  AN  EVANGELIST.  459 

John  Rogers  were  requested,  after  due  conference  among 
the  Elders  and  brethren,  to  visit  all  the  churches  of  Ken- 
tucky ;  and  the  arrangement  was  announced  in  the  Mes- 
senger of  January,  1832,  in  the  following  words  : 

To  increase  and  consolidate  this  union,  and  to  convince  all 
of  our  sincerity,  we,  the  Elders  and  brethren,  have  separated 
two  Elders,  JOHN  SMITH  and  JOHN  ROGERS,  the  first  known 
formerly  by  the  name  of  Reformer,  the  latter  by  the  name 
Christian.  These  brethren  are  to  ride  together  through  all  the 
churches,  and  to  be  equally  supported  by  the  united  contribu- 
tions of  the  churches  of  both  descriptions ;  which  contributions 
are  to  be  deposited  together,  with  Brother  JOHN  T.  JOHNSON  as 
treasurer  and  distributor. 

That  support  for  the  year  1832,  which  was  one  of  unre- 
mitting toil,  amounted  to  three  hundred  dollars  to  each  ; 
nor  did  these  noble  Evangelists  ask  for  more.  This  sum 
was  not,  of  course,  regarded  by  the  brethren  concerned  as 
a  charge  for  their  services ;  nor  was  it  a  stipulated  salary, 
offered  as  an  inducement  to  them  to  labor  in  the  cause. 
The  brethren  in  conference,  knowing  the  dependent  cir- 
cumstances of  their  Evangelists,  sent  them  forth  with  the 
assurance  that  while  they  were  laboring  for  the  Lord  and 
the  union  of  his  people,  their  families  would  not  be  for- 
gotten. The  contributions  raised  were  the  free-will  offer- 
ings of  those  whose  prayers  and  sympathies  followed  these 
self-sacrificing  preachers  through  all  their  toilsome  jour- 
neyings  and  faithful  ministrations  among  the  scattered 
congregations  of  the  State ;  and  they  went  forth  without 
binding  themselves  for  any  specified  time  or  sum,  but  leav- 
ing it  to  those  who  selected  them,  to  determine  these  mat- 
ters in  their  fraternal  councils. 

Concerning  the  two  congregations  which  were  worship- 
ing in  Lexington  at  the  time  of  the  general  union  meeting,  it 
is  proper  to  add,  that  although  they  subsequently  met  and 


460  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

communed  together,  and  even  agreed  on  a  day  when  they 
would  consummate  their  union  in  form,  yet  before  that  day 
arrived,  some  discovered  what  they  conceived  to  be  an  in- 
superable difficulty  in  the  way  of  union.  Many  of  the 
Christians  held  the  opinion  that  none  but  Elders  or 
Preachers  could  lawfully  or  properly  administer  the  ordi- 
nances, while  the  Disciples  denied  the  exclusive  privilege 
of  the  clergy  in  this  matter.  As  some,  difficulty  in  choos- 
ing a  suitable  Elder  from  the  combined  congregations  was 
anticipated,  some  of  the  Christians  suggested  the  expedient 
of  inducing  the  Elder  of  some  neighboring  church  to  come 
and  administer  the  ordinances  for  them  ;  but  the  Disciples 
maintained  that  it  was  contrary  to  the  ancient  order  of 
things  to  have  one  Eldership  for  two  or  more  churches. 
Under  the  circumstances,  therefore,  many  felt  unprepared 
to  go  into  the  proposed  union.  After  due  reflection  and 
conference,  a  meeting  was  held  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  Feb- 
ruary, and  the  pledge  of  union  was  dissolved,  and  each 
party  stood  on  its  former  ground. 

Nor  was  a  union  between  the  two  congregations  finally 
and  formally  effected  till  in  July,  1835,  when  Thomas  M. 
Allen,  who,  for  ten  or  twelve  years,  had  been  one  of  the 
most  popular  and  efficient  preachers  among  the  Christians, 
and  who  was  now  preaching  to  them  in  Lexington  with  a 
view  to  their  union  with  the  Disciples,  again  proposed  that 
measure  to  them.  At  his  instance,  they  waived  all  preju- 
dice and  differences  of  opinion  on  the  subject  of  order  and 
clerical  privilege — if,  indeed,  any  such  differences  still  re- 
mained— and  not  only  consented  to  the  union,  but  nobly 
proposed  it  to  the  Disciples. 


REFORMERS  ALARMED.  461 


CHAPTER   XL. 

John  Smith  censured  for  his  Course — Calls  the  Church  at  Mount  Sterling  together — 
Justifies  his  Action  and  Conciliates  them — Satisfies  Somerset  and  other 
Churches — His  interview  with  Mrs.  Ryan — Brings  them  all  into  the  Union — 
His  Travels  begin — His  address  to  the  Disciples — Baptism  for  the  Remission 
of  Sins  treated  as  a  matter  of  Opinion. 

IMMEDIATELY  after  the  union  meeting  at  Lexington,  John 
Smith  returned  home,  and  found  that  the  news  of  what 
had  been  done  was  already  spread  among  the  churches 
of  Montgomery.  In  the  very  hour  that  he  reached  home, 
the  elders  of  the  church  at  Mount  Sterling  came  to  his 
house,  and,  with  much  concern,  questioned  him  about  the 
rumors  that  were  every-where  afloat.  He  frankly  detailed 
the  whole  matter  to  them,  and  vindicated  his  course. 

The  people  of  that  region  had  neither  read  the  writings 
of  Stone,  nor  heard  his  brethren  preach ;  they,  consequently, 
knew  but  little  of  their  faith,  except  from  reports  that  mis- 
represented their  views  or  defamed  their  Christian  char- 
acter. The  elders  were  alarmed  when  they  thought  of  the 
consequences  that  must  follow  from  what  they  regarded  as 
a  great  blunder  on  the  part  of  their  father  in  the  Gospel. 
He  saw  that  he  had  encountered  prejudices  too  strong  to 
be  subdued  in  an  hour's  conversation.  He  judged,  also, 
from  the  feelings  of  these  brethren,  what  must  be  the  dis- 
pleasure of  others  less  liberalized  by  the  spirit  of  the 


462  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

Ancient  Gospel,  and  less  intelligent  in  the  Scriptures. 
With  a  heavy  heart,  he  resolved  to  preach  no  more  till  he 
had  reconciled  the  congregation  at  Mount  Sterling  to  the 
measure,  which,  though  they  condemned  it,  was  in  har- 
mony with  every  principle  that  they  professed.  He  re- 
quested, therefore,  that  the  church  should  be  called  together 
at  an  early  day,  to  consider  his  action,  and  to  determine, 
in  the  light  of  the  Scriptures  alone,  whether  he  had  done 
right  or  wrong.  He  asked,  at  the  same  time,  that  he  should 
be  heard  with  patience  in  his  own  defense.  His  hope  was 
that  he  would  be  able  to  turn  their  thoughts  to  a  more 
definite  and  practical  view  of  Christian  union,  and  to  cor- 
rect their  misconception  of  the  doctrine  of  Stone  and  his 
brethren. 

The  congregation  assembled,  and  the  interview,  in  the 
beginning,  was  painful  enough;  for,  while  they  greatly 
loved  him,  they  believed  that,  in  the  excess  of  his  zeal,  he 
had  unwittingly  betrayed  the  cause.  They  hung  upon  his 
words,  however,  with  a  tender,  sorrowful  interest,  being 
willing  to  forgive,  but  still  more  anxious  to  justify.  He 
spoke  at  much  length,  with  great  plainness  and  candor, 
answered  their  questions  with  patience,  and  then,  not  with- 
out some  misgivings,  left  them  to  make  up  their  verdict. 

The  question  was  submitted,  "  Has  Brother  Smith  done 
right  in  affiliating  with  the  New  Light  party?"  Such  had 
been  the  force  of  his  reasoning,  and  such  was  the  influence 
of  his  character,  that,  after  due  reflection,  their  prejudice 
gave  way ;  they  were  persuaded,  or  convinced,  and  their 
confidence  in  him  revived.  They  not  only  acquitted  him 
of  censure,  but,  for  the  most  part,  went  cordially  with  him 
into  the  union. 

He  next  went  to  Somerset,  and  thence  to  Sharpsburg 
and  Owingsville — to  the  churches  which  he  had  planted 
amid  persecution  and  distress  ;  and  it  required  all  the 


BEGINS  HfS  TRA  VELS.  463 

weight  of  his  influence,  and  all  the  power  of  the  truth, 
to  turn  their  censure  into  praise.  Meeting  Mrs.  Ryan, 
who  had  so  early  and  zealously  labored  with  him  in  the 
Gospel,  when  friends  were  few  and  distrustful,  she  told 
him  how  it  pained  her  to  hear  that  he  had  united  with  the 
Arians ;  that  she  could  pray,  with  all  her  heart,  for  union 
with  such  as  really  honored  the  Savior,  but  that  she  loved 
the  truth  too  well  to  worship  with  a  people  that  denied  the 
Lord  who  bought  them!  In  the  freedom  of  sisterly  re- 
monstrance, she  weepingly  assured  him  that  he  had  injured, 
if  not  ruined,  the  cause,  and  had  wounded,  beyond  expres- 
sion, the  brethren  that  so  much  loved  him.  With  many 
kind  and  patient  words,  he  soothed  her  fears  and  justified 
his  action,  until,  at  last,  she,  too,  began  to  see,  in  the  union 
that  she  had  opposed,  the  triumph  of  her  own  religious 
principles. 

His  travels  as  an  Evangelist  now  began ;  and,  with  the 
same  zeal  that  had  inspired  him  in  1828,  he  went  abroad, 
far  and  near,  laboring  unceasingly  to  reform,  to  unite,  and 
to  convert.  His  voice  was  heard  along  the  valley  of  the 
Big  Sandy  in  the  east,  and  upon  the  banks  of  the  Green 
River  in  the  west  He  proclaimed  the  unsearchable  riches 
of  Christ  in  the  counties  upon  the  Ohio,  and  constituted 
churches  along  the  borders  of  Tennessee. 

He  soon  discovered  that  while  the  disposition  to  affiliate 
with  all  true  Christians,  on  the  Bible  alone,  was  very  gen- 
eral among  his  brethren,  yet  their  prejudice  against  B.  W. 
Stone,  growing  out  of  their  ignorance  of  his  doctrine,  was, 
in  some  other  places  also,  a  formidable  barrier  to  union. 
Some,  too,  in  their  opposition  to  all  measures  of  expedi- 
ency in  matters  of  religion,  in  their  pious  distrust  of  human 
wisdom,  or  their  scrupulous  devotion  to  the  letter  of  the 
New  Testament,  demanded  a  special  precept  for  the  action 
of  the  elders  and  brethren  about  Georgetown  in  setting 


464  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

apart  the  two  Evangelists,  and  pledging  them  a  compensa- 
tion for  their  services.  Such  men  now  refused  their  coop- 
eration, and  otherwise  discouraged  the  execution  of  the 
plan  adopted.  "But  we  are  fully  able,  and  fully  deter- 
mined," said  Stone,  "  to  assist  these  Evangelists  to  support 
their  dependent  families,  should  all  others  forsake  us." 

For  the  benefit  of  those  Reformers  who  honestly  doubted 
the  wisdom  or  propriety  of  the  affiliation  which  he  had 
helped  to  bring  about,  and  which  he  was  now  laboring  to 
extend  and  confirm  throughout  the  State,  Smith  prepared 
and  published  an  address,  in  which  he  endeavored  to  meet 
and  remove  their  objections.  / 

Concerning  this  address,  John  Rogers,  his  co-laborer,  re- 
marks :  "  The  simplicity,  the  candor,  the  charity,  the  piety, 
the  dignity  and  noble  independence  which  this  communi- 
cation exhibits,  are  characteristic  of  the  man  who  wrote  it, 
and,  what  is  better,  of  the  religion  which  he  professes. 
And  I  am  much  mistaken  if  it  does  not  contain  a  fair  and 
clear  statement,  as  far  as  it  goes,  of  the  principles  and 
practices  of  the  Christian  brethren  in  these  regions,  and 
not  only  here,  but  generally  in  the  West.  I  do,  therefore, 
confidently  hope  that  it  will  be  greatly  useful  in  promoting 
the  good  work  of  union  and  cooperation  among  those  who 
have  acknowledged  and  submitted  to  the  one  Lord,  one 
faith,  and  one  baptism,  the  one  God  and  Father  of  all,  who 
is  over  all,  and  with  all,  and  in  all. 

ADDRESS. 

BELOVED  BRETHREN:  It  becomes  my  duty  to  lay  before  our 
brethren  and  the  public  the  principle  from  which  I  acted,  when, 
with  many  Reformers,  so-called,  and  many  of  those  called  Chris- 
tians, we  met  together,  broke  the  loaf,  and  united  in  all  the  acts 
of  social  worship.  It  will  be  recollected  that  all  our  remarks  rel- 
ative to  the  Christian  brethren  are  confined  to  those  with  whom 


SIS  ADDRESS   TO   TEE  BRETHREN.  465 

we  have  associated  about  Lexington,  Georgetown,  Paris,  Millers- 
burgh,  and  Carlisle.  When  the  Christians  and  the  Reforming 
brethren  united,  as  above  named,  we  calculated  at  the  time  that 
the  captious,  the  cold-hearted,  sectarian  professor,  and  the  friends 
of  religious  systems  formed  by  human  device,  would  misrepresent 
and  slander  us.  But  we  do  not  mind  all  this.  It  is  no  more 
than  we  expect  from  such  characters;  and  we  hope  we  shall  al- 
ways be  able  to  bear  reviling  like  Christians,  and  not  revile  again. 
We  do  not  publish  this  address  with  the  hope  of  satisfying  or  si- 
lencing our  opposers;  but  hearing  that  some  of  our  warm-hearted, 
pious,  Reforming  brethren,  having  heard  many  reports,  and  not 
being  correctly  informed  on  this  subject,  have  become  uneasy, 
fearing  that  the  good  cause  of  Reformation  may  be  injured  by  the 
course  which  we  have  taken  in  relation  to  the  Christian  brethren, 
we  therefore  feel  it.  to  be  a  duty  which  we  owe  to  our  brethren, 
and  to  the  cause  which  we  profess,  to  lay  before  them  and  the 
public,  candidly  and  plainly,  the  principle  from  which  we  have 
acted,  relative  to  this  matter — which  is  as  follows: 

When  we  fell  in  company  with  the  Christian  teachers,  we  con- 
versed freely  and  friendly  together.  With  some  one  or  other  of 
them  we  have  conversed  on  all  the  supposed  points  of  difference 
between  them  and  the  Reformers,  and  all  the  erroneous  sentiments 
which  I  had  heard  laid  to  their  charge,  such  as  the  following: 

i.  That  they  deny  the  Atonement.  On  this  point  I  found  the 
tnith  to  be,  in  substance,  about  this :  That  they  do  not  deny  the 
Atonement,  but  they  do  deny  the  explanation  which  some  give 
of  it.  At  the  same  time  they  declare  that  pardon  and  salvation 
here  are  obtained  through  faith  in  the  sacrifice  and  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ.  They  expect,  and  pray  for,  all  spiritual  blessings 
through  the  same  medium,  and  hope  to  overcome  at  the  last, 
and  obtain  eternal  salvation,  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  by 
the  Word  of  his  testimony.  This,  substantially,  if  not  verbatim, 
one  of  their  principal  teachers  said  to  me ;  and  this,  I  believe, 
they  are  all  willing  to  say,  so  far  as  I  have  been  conversant  with 
them. 

When  I  have  conversed  with  them  about  the  various  specula- 


466  ,  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

tions  upon  the  character  of  Christ,  or  the  modus  existendi  of  the 
Divine  Being,  they  have  said  that,  by  the  misrepresentations  and 
violent  opposition  of  their  enemies,  they  had  been  sometimes 
driven  into  speculations  on  that  subject.  They  also  say  they 
are  not  only  willing,  but  desirous,  that  all  speculations  on  that 
subject  may  cease  forever;  and  that  all  should  speak  of  the  Sa- 
vior of  sinners  in  the  language  of  the  inspired  writers,  and  ren- 
der unto  him  such  honor  as  did  the  primitive  Christians.  So 
say  I;  and  let  Unitarianism,  Trinitarianism,  and  all  other  hu- 
man isms,  return  from  whence  they  came,  and  no  more  divide 
the  affections,  prevent  nor  destroy  the  union,  of  Christians  for- 
ever. Amen,  and  Amen  ! 

2.  I  have  also  conversed  freely  with  the  Christian  teachers 
upon  the  subject  of  receiving  the  unimmersed  into  the  church, 
and  of  communing  with  them  at  the  Lord's  table.  They  have 
said  that  they  have  had,  and  still  have,  in  some  degree,  their 
difficulties  on  this  subject.  In  their  first  outset  they  were  all 
Pedobaptists.  Having  determined  to  take  the  word  of  God 
alone  for  their  guide,  some  of  them  soon  became  convinced 
that  immersion  was  the  only  Gospel  baptism;  and  they  submit- 
ted to  it  accordingly.  They  went  on  teaching  others  to  do 
likewise ;  the  result  has  been  that  all,  with  very  few  exceptions, 
belonging  to  their  congregations  in  this  section  of  country,  have 
submitted  to  immersion.  They  have  not,  for  several  years  past, 
received  any  as  members  of  their  body  without  immersion.  And, 
with  regard  to  the  propriety  of  communing  at  the  Lord's  table 
with  the  unimmersed,  they  are  determined  to  say  no  more  about 
it,  there  being  no  apostolic  precept  nor  example  to  enforce  it. 
But  whatever  degree  of  forbearance  they  may  think  proper  to 
exercise  toward  the  unimmersed  as  best  suited  to  the  present 
state  of  things,  they  are  determined,  by  a  proper  course  of  teach- 
ing, and  practicing  the  apostolic  Gospel,  to  bring  all,  as  fast  as 
they  can,  to  unite  around  the  cross  of  Christ — submitting  to  the 
one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  immersion — and  thus  form  one  body 
upon  the  one  foundation,  according  to  the  apostolic  order  of 
things. 


HIS  ADDRESS   TO   THE  BRETHREN.  467 

Here  I  must  say,  that  when  the  Christian  brethren  have  spread 
the  Lord's  table  in  my  presence,  they  did  not  invite*  the  un- 
immersed  to  participate.  When  the  Apostle  said,  "Let  a  man 
examine  himself,  and  so  let  him  eat,"  he  did  not  say  this  to  the 
un immersed,  or  those  who  were  not  in  the  kingdom,  but  to  the 
church  of  God  at  Corinth,  the  members  of  which  had  heard, 
believed,  and  had  been  immersed.  (Acts  xviii :  8.)  In  a  word, 
I  believe  that  the  Christian  teachers  with  whom  I  have  had  in- 
tercourse teach  as  plainly,  and  as  purely,  what  the  primitive 
teachers  taught,  and  require  as  precisely  what  they  required,  in 
order  to  the  admission  of  members  into  the  congregation  of 
Christ,  as  any  people  with  whom  I  am  acquainted. 

I  have  not  written  this  for  the  sake  of  the  Christian  brethren, 
but  for  the  sake  of  some  of  our  Reforming  brethren,  who  seem 
to  be  alarmed,  fearing  that  I  and  some  other  Reforming  teachers, 
have  injured  the  good  cause  in  which  we  have  been  engaged, 
by  sanctioning  all  the  speculations  and  errors  which  have  been 
laid  to  the  charge  of  the  people  called  Christians,  whether  justly 
or  unjustly.  That  our  Reforming  brethren  may  be  enabled  to 
judge  and  determine  upon  the  propriety  or  impropriety  of  our 
conduct,  when  we  and  the  Christian  brethren  united  in  all  the  acts 
of  social  worship,  we  have  thought  it  proper  to  lay  before  them 
what  we  understand  to  be  the  views  and  the  practice  of  the  Chris- 
tian teachers,  in  the  several  important  particulars  named  above. 

If,  in  doing  this,  we  have  in  any  particular  been  mistaken,  or 
have  misrepresented  them,  we  can  assure  them  that  we  have  not 
done  it  designedly ;  they  will,  therefore,  have  the  goodness  to 
correct  the  error,  and  pardon  me.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the 
above-named  views  of  the  Christian  brethren  be  correct,  I  would 
then  ask  any  brother,  what  law  of  Christ  is  violated  when  we 
break  the  loaf  together  ?  Or  when  we  meet  with  those  on  the 
King's  highway,  who  have  been  immersed  upon  a  profession  of 
their  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  are  walking  in  his  com- 
mandments, by  what  rule  found  in  the  New  Testament  could  we 
reject  them,  or  refuse  to  break  bread  with  them  ? 


*  Nor  debar  them. — B.  W.  Stone,  and  J.  T.  Johnson,  Ed.  Chris.  Men. 


468  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

3.  It  may  be   asked,  if  the   people   called   Christians,  who 
have  ceased  to  speculate  upon   the  character  of  Christ,  have 
given  up  their  Unitarian  opinions  ?     And  may  it  not  as  well 
be    asked,    have    they  who    speculate   upon    the  character   of 
Christ  before   they   became    Reformers,    given  up  their  Trin- 
itarian opinions  ?     To  both  these   questions  I  would  answer,  I 
do  not  know,  neither  do  I  care.     We  should  always  allow  to 
others  that  which  we  claim  for  ourselves — the  right  of  private 
judgment. 

If  either  Christians  or  Reformers  have  erroneous  opinions, 
they  never  can  injure  any  person,  provided  we  all  have  prudence 
enough  to  keep  them  to  ourselves.  Neither  will  they  injure  us, 
if  we  continue  to  believe  the  Gospel  facts,  and  obey  the  law  of 
the  King.  If  all  who  profess  to  be  teachers  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion would  keep  their  opinions  to  themselves,  teach  the  Gospel 
facts,  and  urge  the  people  to  obey  them,  the  world  would  soon 
be'  delivered  from  the  wretched,  distracting,  and  destructive  in- 
fluences of  mystical  preaching. 

4.  Again,  it  is  asked,  when  you  break  bread  with  those  called 
Christians  about  Georgetown,  etc.,  do  you  not  sanction  all  the 
sectarian  speculations  of  all  those  who  are  called  by  the  same 
name   throughout    the    United    States?     No.     The    Christian 
churches  are  not  bound  together  by  written,  human  laws,  like 
many  others ;  and  even  if  they  were,  I  should  not  believe  that  I 
had  sanctioned  any  sectarian  peculiarity  which  might  be  among 
them,  because  I  find  nothing  either  in  Scripture  or  reason  to 
make  me  believe  so.     If  such  an  idea  had  been  taught  in  the 
New  Testament,  surely  the  Reformers  never  would  have  acted 
as  they  have  done,  and  are  still  doing.     For  example:  after 
many  of  us  became  Reformers,  we  continued   to  break  bread 
with  many  of  those  who  continued  to  plead  for  all  their  old  sec- 
tarian peculiarities  and  human  traditions — even  in  our  own  con- 
gregation— without  even   so  much  as   dreaming  that  we  were 
sanctioning  all  or  any  of  their  unscriptural  peculiarities,  or  those 
of  the   Associations  with   which  we  were  in  correspondence. 
You  will  say  that  all  these  had  come  into  the  kingdom  by  faith 


HIS  ADDRESS  TO  THE  BRETHREN.  469 

ftv-.d  immersion.  Granted :  and  so  had  those  Christians  with 
whom  we  broke  bread,  so  far  as  we  know. 

Once  more.  It  is  well  known  that  brother  G.  Gates,  as  yet, 
stands  formally  connected  with  the  Elkhorn  Association;  and 
that  all  the  Reformers  cheerfully  commune  with  him,  as  they 
ought  to  do,  at  the  Lord's  table,  not  thinking,  for  one  moment, 
that  in  so  doing  they  sanction  all  the  peculiarities  which  belong 
to  that  body,  and  all  the  other  Associations  with  which  the> 
stand  formally  connected.  Similar  cases  might  be  multiplied, 
but  we  deem  it  unnecessary. 

When  our  brethren  shall  have  seen  this,  we  hope  they  will  be 
satisfied  that  we  have  not  laid  aside  our  former  speculations,  and 
taken  up  those  of  any  other  people.  They  can  not  think  that 
we  wish  to  amalgamate  the  immersed  and  the  unimmersed  in 
the  congregation  of  Christ.  We  do  not  find  such  amalgamation 
in  the  ancient  congregations  of  Christ.  Therefore,  whilst  con- 
tending for  the  ancient  order  of  things,  we  can  not  contend  for 
this. 

5.  We  are  pleased  with  the  name  Christian,  and  do  desire 
to  see  it  divested  of  every  sectarian  idea,  and  every  thing  else 
but  that  which  distinguished  the  primitive  Christians  from  all 
other  people,  in  faith  and  practice,  as  the  humble  followers  of 
the  meek  and  lowly  Redeemer.  And  we  do  believe  that  the 
Christian  brethren  about  Georgetown,  etc.,  would  be  as  much 
gratified  to  see  this  as  we  would  be  ourselves. 

The  friends  of  the  Reformation  may  easily 'injure  their  own 
cause  by  giving  to  it  a  sectarian  character ;  against  which  we 
should  always  be  specially  guarded.  And  in  order  to  avoid 
this,  and  all  other  departures  from  the  Apostolic  order  of  things, 
we  can  not,  we  will  not,  knowingly  sanction  any  tradition, 
speculation,  or  amalgamation,  unknown  to  the  primitive  Christian 
congregations.  On  the  other  hand,  we  are  determined,  by  the 
favor  of  God,  to  the  utmost  of  our  ability,  to  teach  what  the 
primitive  disciples  taught;  and  in  admitting  persons  into  the 
congregation  of  Christ,  we  will  require  what  they  required,  and 
nothing  more.  We  will  urge  the  practice  of  all  the  Apostolic  com- 


47°  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

mands  and  examples  given  to  the  primitive  Christians,  and  thus 
labor  for  the  unity  of  the  disciples  of  Christ  upon  this  one  foun- 
dation. And  wherever  we  find  others — whatever  they  may  have 
been  called  by  their  enemies — laboring  for  the  same  object,  aim- 
ing at  the  same  thing,  we  are  bound  joyfully  to  receive  them, 
treat  them  as  Christians,  and  co-operate  with  them.  And  such 
we  believe  are  the  Christian  brethren  about  Lexington,  George- 
town, Paris,  Millersburg,  and  Carlisle.  \ 

We  have  now  laid  before  our  brethren,  candidly  and  plainly, 
the  principle  upon  which  we  have  acted,  relative  to  the  union 
spoken  of  between  the  Christians  and  Reformers  about  George- 
town, etc.,  which,  we  think,  is  perfectly  consistent  with  that 
from  which  we  have  acted  for  several  years  past.  But  if  we 
have  done  any  thing  which  the  Gospel  or  the  law  of  Christ  will 
not  justify,  we  would  be  glad  to  know  it,  as  we  do  desire,  above 
all  things,  to  know  the  whole  truth,  and  to  practice  it;  and  as 
we  think  that  the  best  of  us,  either  as  individuals,  or  as  congre- 
gations, are  not  fully  reformed,  but  reforming. 

We  hope  that  the  editors  of  reforming  periodicals  (Brethren 
Campbell,  Scott,  etc.),  if  they  see  this  in  the  Messenger,  will 
notice  it  in  their  journals,  with  such  remarks  of  commendation 
or  correction  as  they  may  think  proper.  We  make  this  request 
because  we  think  circumstances  actually  require  it. 

JOHN  SMITH. 

Concerning  the  doctrine  of  baptism  for  the  remission 
of  sins,  it  is  proper  to  say,  that  while  very  generally  re- 
ceived by  the  Christians  at  the  time  of  the  union,  it  had 
been  perverted  by  imprudent  teachers  to  the  injury  of  the 
cause ;  so  that  some  did  not  accept  it,  or  held  it  in  a  sense 
different  from  that  in  which  it  was  generally  propounded. 
But  views  respecting  the  design  of  the  ordinance  were  re- 
garded as  opinions  that  should  not  be  allowed  to  prevent 
or  disturb  the  union  of  those  who  were  already  of  one 
faith  and  one  baptism,  and  who  acknowledged  the  Bible 
as  their  only  standard  of  religious  truth.  While  the  spirit 


BAPTISM  FOR  REMISSION.  471 

of  investigation  was  encouraged,  they  were  disposed  to 
leave  this  matter  to  the  private  judgment  of  those  who,  be- 
lieving in  Christ  with  all  their  hearts,  cheerfully  and  hum- 
bly bowed  to  his  authority  in  the  ordinance  of  immersion. 
John  Rogers,  the  Evangelist,  who  held  the  prevalent  view 
respecting  the  ordinance,  uses  the  following  language  in 
March,  1832: 

The  doctrine  of  baptism  for  the  remission  of  sifts,  has  within  a 
few  years  been  brought  before  us,  and  much  investigated.  Some 
among  us  have  embraced  it  cordially ;  others  reject  it.  What 
then  ?  Shall  those  who  embrace  it,  condemn  those  who,  though 
they  believe  in  immersion,  can  not  go  the  whole  length  with  us 
in  this  matter?  God  forbid.  Or  shall  those  who  do  not  re- 
ceive it,  condemn  us  who  do  receive  it?  I  trust  not.  Charity 
forbids  it.  Our  principles  forbid  it. 

Stone,  in  his  address  to  the  churches  of  Christ,  Septem- 
ber, 1832,  says: 

Our  opinions  we  wish  no  man  to  receive  as  truth,  nor  do  we 
desire  to  impose  them  on  any  as  tests  of  Christian  fellowship. 
This  is  the  principle  on  which  we,  as  Christians,  commenced 
our  course  many  years  ago  ;  and  I  can  not  but  view  those  as  de- 
parted from  this  principle,  who  will  not  bear  with  their  breth- 
ren because  they  believe  in  baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins, 
and  because  they  meet  every  Lord's  day  to  worship  the  Lord  in 
praying,  singing,  exhorting,  and  breaking  bread.  O  brethren  ! 
these  are  subjects  concerning  which  many  of  us  differ,  but  for  this 
difference,  we  ought  not  to  separate  from  communion  and  Chris- 
tian fellowship.  All  believe  that  immersion  is  baptism — why 
should  they  who  submit  to  the  one  baptism  contend  and  sepa- 
rate because  they  do  not  exactly  view  every  design  of  it  alike  ? 


472  X//T  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XLI. 

Smith's  Tour — Baptizes  in  Dix  River — Quiets  the  Methodists  in  Somerset — En- 
counters an  Organized  opposition  in  Monticello — Enemy  in  Possession  of  the 
town — Smith  wins  by  prudence — Organizes  a  Church — Style  of  Preaching— 
Reaches  Stockton's  Valley — Meeting  of  Inquiry — First  Fruits  of  the  Ancient 
Gospel — Dr.  O.  T.  Ragland — Great  Meeting  at  Elliott's  Cross  Roads — Sev- 
eral immersed — Church  organized  at  Albany — John  Smith  in  Tennessee — 
Strange  stories  about  the  Campbellitea — His  Landlady  desires  to  see  one- 
Preaches  at  Sparta — His  Sermon — Its  effect — Doctors  of  Divinity. 

EARLY  in  March,  Smith,  still  hopeful  of  planting  the 
standard  of  the  Ancient  Gospel  in  those  regions  where  he 
had  once  so  successfully  preached  Calvinism,  sent  forward 
appointments  for  the  ensuing  month  to  the  several  places 
along  his  route  to  Stockton's  Valley.  He  started  for  Crab 
Orchard  about  the  first  of  April.  When  he  reached  Dix 
River,  a  crowd  of  people  were  assembling  on  the  opposite 
bank,  and,  in  crossing  over,  he  was  told  that  they  had  come 
out  from  town  to  meet  him  there,  for  several  of  them  wished 
to  be  immersed.  They  had  calculated  the  time  of  his  com- 
ing, and  now  stood  waiting  at  the  edge  of  the  water.  He 
dismounted  from  his  horse  and  baptized  them,  and  then 
went  on  into  town,  a  mile  and  a  half  distant,  the  throng 
following  on,  and  gathering  in  at  the  appointed  hour  to 
hear  him  preach. 

He  passed  on  to  Somerset,  in  Pulaski  County,  where 
there  were  but  few  brethren  and  many  foes.  Rising  again 


OPPOSITION  AT  MONT1CELLO.  473 

to  speak  at  the  hour  named  a  month  before,  he  dwelt  long 
and  earnestly  on  the  unfortunate  schisms  that  divided  the 
people  of  God,  arguing  that  creeds  engendered  a  party 
spirit  among  Christians,  and  imposed  party  names  on 
those  who,  but  for  these  things,  might  be  one.  Some 
were  offended  at  his  remarks,  and  left  the  house  while  he 
was  speaking.  "The  wicked  flee,"  he  exclaimed,  "when 
no  man  pursueth ! "  The  rest  now  sat  quiet  till  he  was 
done. 

While  there,  two  brethren  from  Monticello  came  and  in- 
formed him  that  the  Methodists,  in  anticipation  of  his  com- 
ing, had  rallied  in  force  under  their  Elder,  taken  possession 
of  the  court-house,  then  the  only  place  for  public  worship 
in  the  village,  and  were  threatening  to  destroy  the  last 
vestige  of  Campbellism  in  the  place.  They  inquired  of 
Smith  what,  under  the  circumstances,  he  was  going  to  do. 

"Brethren,"  said  he,  "I  will  be  with  you,  God  willing, 
at  the  promised  time,  and  then  we  will  determine." 

While  they  were  looking  for  him  next  evening,  at  Mon- 
ticello, he  rode  into  town.  They  were  much  cast  down, 
but  his  presence  revived  them,  though  they  were  hopeless 
of  gaining  the  attention  of  the  people.  That  night,  with 
his  little  band  of  brethren,  he  went  into  the  crowded  court- 
house and  heard  the  popular  Elder  preach  to  a  people  on 
whom,  with  many  agonizing  prayers,  he  had  invoked  the 
baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of  fire.  When  he  was 
done,  Smith  arose  and  said  that  he  had  forwarded  an  ap- 
pointment some  four  or  five  weeks  since  to  speak,  on  the 
next  day,  in  that  house,  not  being  apprised  at  the  time 
that  any  other  person  designed  to  occupy  it ;  he  wished  to 
say,  however,  that  at  eleven  o'clock  precisely,  on  the  next 
morning,  according  to  promise,  he  would  meet  such  friends 
as  might  wish  to  hear  him,  at  the  old  meeting-house,  a  little 
distance  from  town.  It  was  a  log-house  of  the  early  times, 
40 


474  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

built  by  the  Baptists,  but  long  since  abandoned  and  gone 
to  decay ;  a  few  broken  benches  remained,  and  these,  he 
thought,  might  be  so  arranged  as  to  accommodate  the 
women. 

But  in  the  morning,  a  citizen  proposed  that,  as  some  de- 
sired to  hear  both  speakers,  Smith  should  preach  in  the 
court-house  in  the  afternoon.  But  to  this  proposal,  the 
Elder  would  not  agree,  and  Smith  went  out  to  meet  his 
few  friends  in  the  old  log-house.  But  the  sympathy  of 
many  of  the  citizens  was  now  turned  in  his  favor,  and  they 
followed  out  in  numbers  to  hear  him.  He  made  no  allusion 
to  the  party  in  town,  but  presented  the  Gospel  as  the  power 
of  God  to  save  all  that  would  believe ;  and,  at  the  close, 
three  persons  confessed  their  faith,  and  were  immersed ; 
some  Separate  Baptists,  also,  united  with  them. 

The  interest  continued  to  increase,  and  the  people, 
gradually  deserting  the  town,  gathered  around  him  at  the 
ruins.  He  gave  notice,  on  Lord's  day,  that  at  a  certain 
hour  in  the  afternoon,  the  Disciples  would  meet  to  be 
constituted  into  a  church,  at  which  time  he  would  deliver 
a  discourse  appropriate  to  the  occasion.  Out  came  the 
Elder  himself  now,  with  many  of  his  friends.  Still  the 
speaker  studiously  refrained  from  any  allusion  to  him,  or 
to  his  people.  About  a  score  of  converts  were  regularly 
constituted  into  a  church  of  Christ,  and  the  people  returned 
to  town. 

Smith  reciprocated  the  seeming  courtesy  of  the  Meth- 
odists, and  went  to  their  meeting  that  night  again.  But 
another  spirit  had  seized  their  preacher ;  some  idle  tongue 
had  filled  his  heart  with  suspicion,  and  he  publicly  accused 
his  prudent  brother  of  speaking  boastful  things  against 
him  and  the  Methodists.  Smith  arose  and  replied  in  a 
proper  spirit,  and  the  audience  was  dismissed. 

Next  day,  the  unfortunate  Elder  had  the  mortification  to 


TRIUMPHS  BY  PRUDENCE.  475 

see  the  crowds  flocking  by  him  at  an  early  hour  to  the 
pulpit  of  Smith,  and  he  turned,  with  a  vexed  spirit,  into 
the  court-house  again,  and  preached  once  more  to  the  few 
that  had  not  the  heart  to  forsake  him. 

When  the  people  returned  that  afternoon,  they  learned 
that  he  had  adjourned  his  meeting,  and  was  preparing  to 
depart.  Smith  and  his  friends  quietly  took  possession  of 
the  house,  and  he  soon  raised  the  newly-constituted  church 
to  forty  members.  Nor  did  they  cease  to  grow  in  grace 
and  numbers  after  he  was  gone.  In  a  few  weeks,  ten  more 
were  added  to  them,  and  they  continued  thus  to  grow  in 
numbers  and  influence — Elders  Stone  and  Frisbie  laboring 
for  them  in  word  and  doctrine. 

Speaking  of  John  Smith's  manner  of  preaching  when  at 
Monticello,  one  of  those  Elders  remarks :  "  He  presented 
the  Gospel  in  its  simplicity,  adorned  with  nothing  but  the 
majesty  of  truth ;  he  brought  many  matters,  heretofore 
considered  abstruse,  and  beyond  the  ken  of  ordinary  minds, 
within  the  comprehension  of  the  most  common  understand- 
ing." 

Leaving  Monticello,  he  hurried  on  to  Stockton's  Valley, 
for  he  had  an  appointment  to  preach  at  the  residence  of 
Elder  Jonathan  £).  Young,  then  living  in  sight  of  the  Clear 
Fork  meeting-house. 

On  the  day  appointed,  he  appeared,  and  a  large  congre- 
gation of  friends  met  him.  From  recent  occurrences,  they 
were  much  interested  in  the  great  matters  which  he  had 
pressed  upon  their  attention  a  year  before ;  so  now,  after 
his  discourse  that  day,  he  proposed  what  he  called  a  meet- 
ing of  inquiry,  to  be  held  at  night,  and  he  invited  all  to  at- 
tend. The  house  was  densely  crowded,  and  the  interview 
was  profitable  to  all.  "  To  me,"  says  one  who  was  present, 
"  it  was  the  most  interesting  meeting  that  I  ever  attended. 
It  was  a  mental  and  spiritual  feast.  I  confess  that,  when  I 


476  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

heard  John  Smith  that  evening,  it  was  the  first  time  in  my 
life  that  these  nerves  of  mine  were  ever  perfectly  relaxed 
under  the  power  of  eloquence." 

But  it  was  on  a  subsequent  visit  that  he  began  to"  reap 
in  the  Valley  the  harvest  of  his  many  labors  and  prayers. 
Some  time  in  the  summer  of  1834  he  was  at  Clear  Fork 
again,  on  his  way  to  Alabama.  He  spoke  from  a  stand, 
in  the  oak  grove  near  the  meeting-house,  and,  on  con- 
cluding a  most  persuasive  address,  he  invited  any  that 
believed  in  Jesus  as  the  Christ  to  arise,  confess  him,  and 
be  immersed.  Dr.  O.  T.  Ragland,  an  intelligent  and  in- 
fluential gentleman  of  the  neighborhood,  accepted  the  in- 
vitation, and  was  immediately  immersed  in  the  waters  of 
Clear  Fork.  He  was  the  first  person  that  was  ever  im- 
mersed in  that  country  for  the  remission  of  sins.  This 
practical  exhibition  of  the  Ancient  Gospel  deeply  inter- 
ested the  people.  They  had  been  investigating  it  as  a 
doctrine,  and  had  discussed  its  peculiar  features  as  a 
theory  of  religion,  but  they  had  never  before  seen  it  in 
practice,  and  its  simplicity  and  novelty  deeply  impressed 
them. 

Having  announced  that  he  would  preach  at  Elliott's 
Cross  Roads,  near  by,  at  the  house  of  Colonel  A.  S. 
Bramlette,  on  a  certain  day,  every  thing  was  put  in 
readiness  for  him.  Notice  was  extensively  circulated 
through  the  Valley ;  seats  were  placed  in  the  rooms  of 
the  house,  and  in  the  long,  airy  porch,  and  through  the 
ample,  well-shaded  yard  without ;  and,  when  the  hour 
for  preaching  arrived,  more  than  one  thousand  persons 
crowded  to  the  place.  For  three  hours,  Smith  held  the 
attention  of  that  audience.  He  assailed  creeds,  sects, 
and  parties,  the  tyranny  of  opinionism,  and  the  vanity 
of  all  speculation  in  religion.  He  then  presented  the  sim- 
ple Gospel  in  contrast  with  these  things,  and  closed  his 


CAUSE  ESTABLISHED   IN   THE    VALLEY.          477 

masterly  discourse.  Many  hearts,  touched  by  the  power  of 
his  words,  could  find  expression  only  in  the  stirring  song 
that  arose.  Holding  up  his  Bible  in  full  view  of  the  con- 
gregation, he  exclaimed,  in  a  voice  louder  than  the  swell- 
ing chorus,  "  Bow,  you  rebels  !  bow  to  your  Lord  and 
King ! "  and  eight  penitent  souls  heard  the  words  as  if  a 
voice  from  heaven  had  spoken,  and,  coming  forward,  con- 
fessed, and  were,  soon  afterward,  immersed. 

The  cause  was  now  established  in  the  Valley.  Other 
accessions  were  gained  during  the  ensuing  months,  and 
in  December — perhaps  on  the  third  Lord's  day — a  church 
of  Christ  was  organized  near  where  the  village  of  Albany 
now  stands,  with  Jonathan  D.  Young,  John  Calvin  Smith, 
Isaac  T.  Reneau,  and  others,  as  members — some  of  the  old 
Christians  uniting  with  them.  Elder  Young  has  long  since 
rested  from  his  labors — declaring,  in  his  last  moments,  to 
Isaac  Denton,  that  he  had  never  regretted  the  course  that 
he  had  pursued.  J.  C.  Smith,  now  well  advanced  in  years,* 
is  still  spared,  though  much  afflicted,  to  be  an  elder  of  the 
church  at  Albany ;  and  Isaac  T.  Reneau,  their  junior  by 
many  years,  still  preaches  the  Ancient  Gospel  among  the 
people  of  the  Valley  and  the  adjacent  country.  ^ 

On  one  of  his  visits,  about  that  time,  to  Alabama,  John 
Smith,  while  riding  along,  one  hot  summer  morning,  in 
Tennessee,  stopped  at  an  inn  on  the  roadside,  not  far  from 
Sparta,  and  called  for  his  breakfast.  The  pleasant  landlady 
received  him  politely,  and  ordered  a  servant  to  take  good 
care  of  his  horse,  for  he  had  traveled  nearly  twenty-five 
miles  that  morning.  She  immediately  set  about  prepar- 
ing breakfast  for  her  guest,  apologizing,  at  the  same  time, 
by  saying  that  the  younger  members  of  the  family  had 
gone  to  a  social  gathering  in  the  neighborhood,  and  she 

•January,  1870. 


LIFE  OF  ELDER   JOHN  SMITH. 

was  left  without  help  for  the  day.  Smith  soon  found  op- 
portunity for  conversation,  and  asked  about  the  different 
religious  denominations  in  the  neighborhood. 

"  The  Cumberland  Presbyterians,"  said  she,  "  have  the 
largest  congregations ;  but  we  have  many  Baptists  and 
Methodists  also." 

Seeing  that  he  was  disposed  to  talk,  she  inquired  from 
what  part  of  the  country  he  came,  and  on  hearing  that  he 
was  from  Montgomery  County,  Kentucky,  she  put  down 
her  coffee-pot,  and  looking  at  him  somewhat  curiously, 
said : 

"  Travelers  tell  me  that  there  is  a  strange  sort  of  people 
up  there  in  Kentucky  called  Campbellites." 

"  Yes,  madam,"  replied  he,  "  there  are  some  in  my  own 
neighborhood."  i ; 

"  You  have  seen  some  of  them,  then  ? "  said  she. 

"  Yes,  madam,  but  they  do  n't  like  that  name." 

"  Well,  how  do  they  look  ? "  said  she.     "  Do  tell  me,  sir." 

"  Those  I  have  seen  look  pretty  much  like  other  people." 

"  I  would  really  like  to  see  one,  so  much,"  said  she,  mus- 
ingly ;  "  I  'd  give  more  to  see  one  of  those  people  than  any 
show.  I  'm  told  that  when  any  body  wants  to  join  them, 
they  just  put  them  under  the  water,  and  then  let  them  go. 
One  man  told  me  that  they  would  sometimes  take  people 
by  force,  and  drag  them  down  into  the  water;  that  they 
even  chased  after  people,  and  ran  them  down ;  that  they 
once  took  a  fancy  to  a  poor  fellow,  and  ran  him  five  miles 
before  they  caught  him,  and  then,  after  putting  him  in, 
they  just  left  him  there  to  get  home,  or  to  heaven,  the 
best  way  he  could."  >i, 

"That  was  a  very  long-winded  fellow,  ma'am,"  inter- 
rupted Smith,  "to  run  five  miles  before  the  Campbellites 
caught  him." 

"  I  do  n't  know  what  I  would  n't  give  to  see  one  of  them," 


A   CIVIL   CAMPBELLITE.  479 

said  she,  pouring  out  a  cup  of  coffee,  and  handing  it  to  her 
guest,  who  had  taken  his  seat  at  the  table  with  far  more 
appetite  than  humor. 

"How  do  you  think  a  Campbellite  would  look?"  in- 
quired Smith,  after  breaking  his  fast  a  little. 

"  Well,"  said  she,  "  I  imagine  they  have  a  sort  of  wild, 
fierce,  fanatical  look  about  them." 

"  I  think  I  can  manage  for  you  to  see  one,"  said  Smith, 
as  he  received  his  second  cup  from  her  hands. 

"  I  'd  give  any  thing  almost,  if  you  would,  sir""  said  the 
lady. 

"  Madam,"  said  he,  laying  down  the  knife  and  fork  which 
he  had  plied  with  more  than  usual  assiduity,  and  raising 
his  bland,  good-natured  face  upon  her,  "look  right  at  me, 
»  and  you  will  see  one  !  But  do  n't  be  afraid,"  continued  he, 
seeing  her  start,  and  then  blush  with  confusion,  "I  am  a 
civil  Campbellite,  and  will  not  chase  you  into  the  water." 

Having  finished  his  meal,  he  withdrew  from  the  table, 
and  re-assuring  her  of  his  perfectly  civil  disposition,  re- 
quested her  to  take  a  seat  and  listen  to  what  he  had  to  say 
about  those  singular  people.  He  told  her  what  they  be- 
lieved and  preached,  and  corrected  all  the  wicked  stories 
that  had  been  told  against  them. 

"And  now,"  said  he,  "we  have  some  very  smart  men 
among  us,  and  I  wish  that  you  could  hear  one  of  them 
preach,  for  I  know  you  would  love  the  religion  which  they 
teach  and  practice.  But  Antony  Dibrell,  the  clerk  at 
Sparta,  whom  perhaps  you  know,  was  at  Monticello  not 
long  -since,  and  made  me  promise  to  preach  there  on  my 
•  return  from  Huntsville.  Now,  as  you  can  not  hear  any  of 
our  great  men,  perhaps  you  will  come  and  hear  me? "  She 
promised  to  do  so  without  fail,  and  bidding  her  adieu,  he 
went  on  to  the  Hickory  Flats. 

In  due  time,  he  was  at  Sparta.     The  Court  of  Appeals 


480  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

for  that  district  of  Tennessee  was  then  in  session,  with 
Judge  Catron  and  others  on  the  bench.  The  appointment 
had  with  difficulty  been  published  among  the  people.  A 
Methodist  camp-meeting  had  just  closed  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  his  friend,  Mr.  Dibrell,  had  gone  out  to  have  it 
announced  ;  but  they  had  refused  to  do  it.  Written  no- 
tices had  been  put  up,  at  different  places,  and  Judge  Ca- 
tron, who  had  known  Smith  in  Monticello,  gave  notice 
also,  so  that  the  people,  after  all,  were  expecting  him.  The 
business  of  the  court  was  suspended,  and  all  went  to  hear 
him.  Dibrell  had  the  old  seminary  building  in  readiness, 
and  calling  for  the  preacher  at  the  village  tavern,  where  he 
had  put  up  that  morning,  he  conducted  him  to  the  ap- 
pointed place. 

A  large  congregation  of  curious  listeners  awaited  him. 
Judges  and  lawyers  were  before  him,  among  whom  sat 
also  some  Baptist  and  Presbyterian  preachers.  A  nephew 
of  Isaac  Denton,  a  minister,  was  present,  and  came  and 
sat  fraternally  with  him  in  the  pulpit.  His  kind  hostess 
also  was  in  the  congregation.  Smith  looked  over  the 
crowded  house  for  a  moment,  undecided  how  to  improve 
his  opportunity.  "  I  regretted,"  says  he,  speaking  of  the 
occasion,  "that  I  could  have  but  one  chance  at  them ;  for 
other  appointments  would  hurry  me  away ;  so  I  determined 
to'rake  them  with  grape,  and  do  as  much  execution  as  I 
could,"  He  said : 

There  is  but  one  Gospel,  and  woe  to  the  man  or  the  angel 
that  preaches  any  other ;  let  such  a  one,  says  Paul,  be  accursed. 
It  behooves  those  who  believe,  as  well  as  those  who  preach,  to 
determine  which  is  the  Gospel  of  God's  dear  Son.  Now,  the 
Holy  Spirit  has  put  a  mark  upon  that  Gospel,  by  which  every 
honest  man  may  know  it.  If  one  comes  to  you,  therefore, 
preaching  any  system  of  religion,  look  for  that  mark ;  if  you 
find  it  not,  reject  him  as  a  false  messenger,  who  brings  you 


DISCOURSE  AT  SPARTA.  481 

Another  Gospel.  And  this  is  its  sure  and  distinguishing  sign  : 
He  that  believes  it  not  shall  be  damned. 

One  may  preach  Methodism  as  the  Gospel ;  but  has  it  the 
mark  ?  Will  all  but  Methodists  be  damned  ?  They  themselves 
will  tell  you,  No.  Methodism,  then,  is  not  the  Gospel.  Another 
may  come  preaching  the  doctrines  of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terians. Some  of  you  may  to-day  remember  when  it  was  first 
announced  among  the  people  of  this  region.  But  has  it  the 
mark  ?  Will  all  but  Cumberland  Presbyterians  be  damned  ? 

My  Baptist  brethren,  too,  think  they  have  the  Gospel ;  and, 
verily,  I  long  thought  so  myself,  and  yet  J  never  once  dreamed 
that  my  Methodist  friends  would  be  damned  because  they  were 
not  Baptists. 

These  isms,  my  friends,  do  nqt  save  those  who  believe  them, 
nor  do  they  damn  those  who  reject  them.  They  can  not,  then, 
be  any  part  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  Yet,  while  they  are 
powerless  to  save,  they  set  Christians  at  variance  with  one  an- 
other, and  mislead  and  bewilder  those  who  wish  to  be  saved. 

But  that  religion  which  the  devil  and  bad  men  call  Campbell- 
ism,  proclaims,  first  of  all,  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins,  accord- 
ing to  the  Scriptures,  and  was  buried:  and  that  he  arose  again 
from  the  dead  the  third  day,  according  to  the  Scriptures.  These 
glorious  facts,  attested  by  apostles,  is  the  Gospel  that  Jesus  com- 
manded should  be  preached  to  every  creature ; — to  which  Gos- 
pel the  precious  promise  is  annexed,  that  he  that  believes  it,  and  < 
is  immersed,  shall  be  saved. 

-  That  Gospel  we  declare  to  you  this  day  !  Do  you  believe  it  ? 
Then  why  tarry?  Arise,  and  be  immCrsed,  and  wash  away 
your  sins,  calling  on  the  name  of  the  Lord.  If  you  believe  it 
not,  and  the  risen  Lord  has  spoken  it,  you  must  be  damned  ! 

His  discourse  made  an  impression  on  the  people;  but 
he  could  not  remain  to  take  advantage  of  it.  Bidding  his 
friends  farewell,  and  commending  his  doctrine  especially 
to  his  hostess,  who  had  now  both  seen  and  heard  a  Camp- 
bellite,  he  set  out  that  evening  for  Stockton's  Valley. 
41 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

He  had  hardly  left  the  town  when  a  stranger  overtook 
him,  and  prayed  him,  with  tears,  to  come  back  and  talk 
some  more  to  the  people. 

"  For  many  years,"  said  he,  "  I  have  been  trying  to 
learn  from  the  preachers  how  to  become  a  Christian  ;  but 
never  till  this  day  had  I  a  glimpse  of  light  on  the  subject. 
Can  you  not  return,  and  teach  the  people  longer  for 
others;  I  know,  are  as  blind  as  I  have  been." 

Though  much  concerned,  Smith  felt  that  he  could  not 
disappoint  the  people  that  would  be  waiting  for  him  in  the 
Valley.  He  therefore  told  the  stranger  where  he  could 
find  brethren  that  would  give  him  instruction.  But  the 
anxious  man  would  not  for  awhile  leave  his  side.  He  rode 
with  him  for  ten  miles  of  the  way,  and  then,  with  a  grateful 
heart,  blessing  the  preacher  that  had  brought  him  to  the 
light,  he  left  him  to  pursue  his  journey  alone. 

"  Were  you  not  very  much  embarrassed,  John,"  said  an 
old  friend  to  him,  in  Stockton's  Valley,  "when  you  were 
preaching  down  at  Sparta  before  all  those  great  lawyers 
and  judges  ? " 

"Not  in  the  least,"  said  he;  "for  I  have  learned  that 
judges  and  lawyers,  so  far  as  the  Bible  is  concerned,  are 
the  most  ignorant  class  of  people  in  the  world — except 
Doctors  of  Divinity!1 

"  But  were  you  never  embarrassed  in  your  life,  Brother 
John  ?  *'  said  John  Calvin  Smith  to  him. 

"  Well,"  replied  he,  "  I  have  spoken  before  all  the  great 
preachers  of  Kentucky — Vardeman,  and  Creath,  and  oth- 
ers ;  and  they  were  no  more  in  my  way  than  so  many 
grasshoppers.  But,  I  confess  to  you,  Brother  Calvin,  the 
first  time  I  ever  preached  before  Aleck  Campbell,  I  did 
falter  a  little." 


EVANGELICAL    TOURS.  483 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

Smith's  Tours — Meeting  at  Republican — Great  Annual  Meeting  at  Sharpsburg,  in 
1832 — Its  Effects — John  Newton  Payne — Disciples  of  Boone's  Creek — 
Boone's  Creek  Association — A.  Campbell  discarded — Smith  constantly  going — 
With  John  T.  Johnson,  at  Dry  Run — Reproved  by  Johnson — The  French- 
man's Decision — Johnson  Compromised — With  Raines,  Gates,  and  Burnet, 
at  Minerva — Sectarian  ear-marks — Gives  offense  and  apologizes — Annual 
Meeting  of  the  Christians  at  Clintonville — Smith  and'  Rogers  Report — Local 
Objections  to  the  Reformation — Smith  at  Shawnee  Run — Substance  and 
Form — Taken  ill — Supported  while  Preaching — Elizabeth  Mizner. 

THE  influence  of  the  union  was  now  seen  in  the  success 
which  every-where  attended  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 
Immediately  upon  his  return  from  Stockton's  Valley,  Smith 
resumed  his  labors  among  the  churches  in  northern  Ken- 
tucky, preaching  at  Georgetown,  the  Great  Crossings, 
Versailles,  Clear  Creek,  and  South  Elkhorn,  and  assisted 
at  all  these  places  by  other  preachers,  both  Christians  and 
Reformers,  now  one  in  the  work  of  uniting  saints  and  con- 
verting sinners.  Accessions  were  almost  daily  made  to 

the  churches. 

« 

During  that  summer  and  autumn,  he  was  seldom  at 
home,  for  his  restless  enthusiasm  hurried  him  on  from  one 
three-days'  meeting  to  another.  Now  he  was  laboring  with 
the  Creaths,  at  Clear  Creek  and  Versailles ;  now  with  G. 
W.  Elley,  among  the  churches  in  Jessamine  and  Mercer, 
or  mingling  with  F.  R.  Palmer,  Thornas  M.  Allen,  Thomas 
Smith,  and  others,  in  the  happy  scenes  at  Republican  ; 


484  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

now  he  was  with  Aylett  Raines,  or  Walter  Scott,  or  David 
S.  Burnet,  gathering  vast  crowds  together  at  Minerva  or 
Mayslick,  and  then,  perhaps  with  brotherly  pride,  intro- 
ducing some  of  the  once  despised  Christian  preachers  to 
the  reconciled  brethren  of  Sharpsburg,  Spencer,  Mount 
Sterling,  and  Somerset — baptizing  at  every  place,  and,  with 
the  force  of  irresistible  argument,  breaking  down  prejudice 
and  subduing  opposition.  Nor  did  he  confine  his  labors 
during  those  months  to  the  northern  counties,  but,  cross- 
ing the  Kentucky  River,  he  went,  afone,  into  Lincoln  and 
Garrard — to  the  great  strongholds  of  the  opposition  there — 
and  preached,  with  increased  boldness,  the  union  of  Chris- 
tians in  one  faith  and  one  immersion. 

The  meeting  at  Republican,  near  Lexington,  about  the 
first  of  June,  was  one  of  special  interest.  Many  Christians 
and  Disciples,  no  longer  wearing  these  names  distinctively, 
and  caring  no  longer  for  differences  of  opinion,  came  to- 
gether from  all  the  surrounding  counties,  not  so  much  to 
strengthen,  as  to  enjoy,  their  happy  union.  It  was  indeed 
a  season  of  intense  spiritual  and  social  delight.  Five 
hundred  brethren  and  sisters,  heretofore .  suspicious,  or 
estranged,  broke  the  loaf  together  ;  every  eye  was  suffused 
with  rapture,  and  every  heart  glowed  with  brotherly  love. 
"I  never  saw  a  better  meeting,"  says  Thomas  Smith,  "at 
any  time,  in  any  country." 

On  the  seventeenth  of  August,  the  first  ANNUAL  MEET- 
ING of  the  Disciples  within  the  bounds  of  the  old  North 
District  Association,  was  held  at  Sharpsburg,  in  Bath 
County,  agreeably  to  a  request  of  that  church,  made  at 
Somerset,  in  1831.  All  eyes  were  turned  to  this  first  great 
meeting  of  the  brethren  that  had  dissolved  their  Associ- 
ation as  an  unlawful  assembly.  It  was  confessedly  an  ex- 
periment, novel  in  its  character  and  design,  and  complicated 
not  only  by  questions  of  order  and  expediency,  but  by  the 

in 


FIRST  ANNUAL  MEETING.  485 

timid  inactivity  or  distrust  of  brethren  that  could  not  con- 
ceive how  a  meeting  of  the  kind  could  be  conducted  with- 
out reviving  the  forms  of  the  old  Association,  or  adopting 
some  other  rules  of  procedure  than  those  prescribed  in 
the  Inspired  Constitution.  Some,  who  had  doubted  the 
expediency  of  dissolving  the  North  District  Association, 
feared  the  result ;  while  enemies  hoped  that  Campbellism, 
now  impious  with  engrafted  Arianism,  would  practically 
refute  itself  in  the  wranglings  of  the  mob  at  Sharpsburg. 
John  Newton  Payne,  the  Elder  of  the  church  at  that 
place,  was  a  man  of  great  piety  and  intelligence,  and  of 
fine  administrative  talents.  It  was  understood  that  the 
brethren  from  abroad  were  to  be  received  as  the  guests 
of  the  congregation  over  which  he  so  ably  presided ;  but 
not  as  a  foreign  body  distinct  from  that  church.  They 
had  been  invited  to  meet  there,  and  to  worship  with  them 
according  to  the  spirit  and  tenor  of  the  Book,  as  a  con- 
gregation of  disciples.  No  constitution,  they  judged, 
would  be  necessary  to  the  good  order  and  success  of  the 
meeting  other  than  that  which  the  Holy  Spirit  had  already 
prescribed.  The  results  we  give  in  the  words  of  those  who 
were  present.  Elder  Payne,  after  waiting  to  ascertain 
what  effect  had  been  produced  on  the  public  mind,  says: 

As  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  the  result  has  been  most 
happy — our  friends  were  pleased,  our  opposers  silenced,  and 
the  neutrals,  with  the  world,  highly  gratified.  If  there  has 
been  raised  a  single  objection  to  our  order  or  manner  of  con- 
ducting the  meeting,  by  friend  or  foe,  I  have  yet  to  learn  it; 
and  I  do  think  it  will  go  far  in  relieving  the  prejudices  excited 
against  us  by  dissolving  what  was  called  the  North  District 
Association,  and  in  breaking  down  those  prepossessions  that 
exist  in  favor  of  such  unauthorized  establishments. 

John  T.  Johnson,  F.  R.  Palmer,  one  of  the  ablest  speak- 


486  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

ers  m  the  Christian   connection,  Jacob  Creath,  jr.,  and 
other  preachers,  were,  also,  present  on  that  occasion. 
Johnson  writes: 

I  am  constrained  to  say  that  I  have  never  seen  business  con- 
ducted with  more  decency  or  in  better  order;  nor  have  I  ever 
seen  any  one  who  appeared  to  be  more  perfectly  familiar  with 
his  duties  than  Brother  John  Newton  Payne,  the  bishop  of  the 
congregation  at  Sharpsburg.  We  were  captivated  with  the  love 
which  reigned  among  the  brethren,  and  the  zeal  which  was 
manifested  for  the  conversion  of  sinners.  Oh !  that  love  and 
union  may  abound  every-where  as  at  Sharpsburg  ! 

On  Lord's  day  we  partook,  with  several  hundred,  as  near  as 
we  can  guess,  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  It  was  a  most  interesting 
scene.  If  sectarian  leaders  who  busy  themselves  in  misrepre- 
senting us — in  charging  us  with  impure  motives,  so  far  as  a 
union  of  Christians  has  been  effected — and  who,  according  to 
their  wishes,  are  perpetually  crying  out  that  the  union  can  not 
last — had  been  present,  they  might  have  been  convinced  of  the 
benefits  growing  out  of  one. 

That  visit  to  Sharpsburg,  he  afterward  said,  confirmed 
his  convictions  as  to  the  glorious  results  about  to  be  re- 
alized in  the  restoration  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Things. 

Many  of  those  Disciples  who  had  once  belonged  to  the 
neighboring  Boone's  Creek  Association,  but  who  had  been 
cast  out,  in  1830,  for  their  unwillingness  to  approve  any 
human  terms  of  communion,  now  found  strength  and  en- 
joyment in  the  general  communion  of  their  brethren  in 
these  simple  annual  meetings,  which,  from  that  time,  were 
held  from  year  to  year,  with  the  several  churches  of  the 
District. 

We  may  here  add  that  the  remnant  of  the  Boone's 
Creek  Association,  animated  with  the  same  spirit  that 
had,  in  1830,  proscribed  these  brethren  for  opinion's  sake, 
came  together  again  in  Jessamine  County,  not  long  after 


"CONSTANTLY  GOING."  487 

the  Sharpsburg  meeting,  under  the  leadership  of  a  few 
elders  still  zealous  for  the  ancient  landmarks.  Six  or 
seven  churches  only  were  reported ;  four  persons  had  been 
added  to  their  number  by  immersion  during  the  year,  and 
thirty-one  of  their  members  had  been  dismissed  or  ex- 
cluded ! 

This  melancholy  report  was,  however,  in  some  degree, 
compensated  for,  by  the  appearance  of  Messengers  from 
a  newly-constituted  church,  that  now  asked  to  be  received 
into  their  communion.  True,  the  new  church  consisted 
only  of  about  a  dozen  members,  and  the  accession  could 
add  but  little  to  their  numerical  strength;  but  the  zeal 
of  the  little  congregation  was  great,  and  what  it  lacked 
in  numbers,  it  seems  to  have  made  up  in  orthodoxy,  for, 
at  the  bottom  of  their  letter  praying  for  a  correspondence 
with  the  Association,  they  boldly  wrote  these  words :  "  We 
discard  A.  Campbell  and  his  doctrine  f" 

On  the  adjournment  of  the  annual  meeting  at  Sharps- 
burg,  John  Smith  resumed  his  travels  as  an  Evangelist — 
preaching  in  Nicholas  and  Fleming  Counties  with  John 
Rogers,  and  in  Clark  County  with  William  Morton.  He 
writes  to  John  T.  Johnson : 

I  am  constantly  going,  and  am  much  encouraged,  Prospects 
are  flattering  in  every  place  where  I  have  been.  Since  the  com- 
mencement of  the  year  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  many 
immersed  by  several  teaching  brethren.  I  have,  with  my  own 
hands,  immersed  one  hundred  and  thirty-five. 

On  one  occasion,  about  that  time,  he  was  with  Johnson 
at  Georgetown,  and  at  Dry  Run.  As  they  rode  along  to- 
gether to  the  latter  place,  Johnson,  who  was  a  man  of 
great  dignity  and  much  refinement  of  character,  and  was 
always  frank  but  courteous  toward  his  brethren,  ventured 
to  say  to  his  companion  and  fellow-laborer  that  the  cause 


488  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

* 

which  they  were  pleading  was  the  most  serious  and  sol- 
emn ever  advocated  by  man ;  and  that,  while  there  was 
every  reason  to  rejoice  and  be  glad,  in  view  of  their  suc- 
cess, yet  he  thought  that  the  preachers  could  not  be  too 
grave  when  bearing  their  message  to  the  people,  and 
should  never  say  any  thing  from  the  pulpit  that  could 
divert  their  serious  and  prayerful  attention.  Smith,  with- 
out attempting  to  justify  his  own  occasional  humor  in  the 
pulpit,  kindly  received  the  gentle  admonition,  and  resolved 
to  profit  by  it. 

It  had  been  arranged  between  them  that,  on  Sunday,  he 
should  discuss  the  subject  of  creeds.  Accordingly,  on  that 
day,  he  arose  before  the  large  congregation,  and  labored, 
with  much  ability,  and  at  some  length,  to  show  that  man- 
made  creeds,  instead  of  being  bonds  of  union,  engender 
strife  and  schism.  They  have  no  unitive  power,  he  con- 
tended, save  to  make  preachers  lock  their  horns  together 
in  controversy.  In  concluding,  he  remarked : 

And  now  I  would  like  to  show  you,  by  means  of  a  little  inci- 
dent, how  every  sensible  and  unbiased  man  regards  a  human 
creed,  when  made  the  foundation  of  a  church.  With  your  per- 
mission, I  will  illustrate  the  matter  in  hand  by  an  anecdote,  if 
you  will  promise  not  even  to  smile,  unless  in  the  gravest  man- 
ner possible. 

And  he  turned  his  pleasant  face  toward  Johnson,  who 
sat  before  him  nodding  his  ready  promises  with  a  thought- 
less confidence  that  said  as  plainly  as  words,  "  We  are  all 
sober-minded  Christians  here,  Brother  Smith ;  so  proceed 
with  your  illustration."  The  speaker,  in  his  deliberate  man- 
ner, continued : 

A  Christian  was  once  discussing  the  question  of  creeds  with  a 
Calvinistic  Baptist,  who  boldly  maintained  that  his  Confession 
of  Faith  was  a  better  bond  of  union  among  Christians  than  the 


A  FRENCHMAN'S  DECISION.  489 

Bible  alone.  So  well  satisfied  was  the  anti-creed  brother,  how- 
ever, that  both  Scripture  and  common  sense  sustained  him  in  the 
argument,  that  he  proposed,  in  the  end,  to  submit  the  question 
to  a  Frenchman  who  had  listened  attentively  to  the  discussion, 
and  who,  from  the  negative  character  of  his  own  religion,  could 
not  have  any  prejudice  in  the  case.  The  matter  was  accordingly 
referred  to  him,  and  he  consented  to  judge  between  them.  Mak- 
ing each  disputant  take  into  his  hand  the  creed  that  he  had  de- 
fended, he  asked  of  the  man  with  the  New  Testament  who  it  was 
that  had  made  his  creed. 

"Jesus  Christ,"  was  the  answer. 

"And  who,  my  friend,"  said  he  to  the  other,  "made  yours?" 

"It  was  adopted  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  year  1742," 
replied  the  Baptist. 

"Very  well,  then,  gentlemen,"  continued  the  Frenchman; 
"that  is  enough.  If  you  follow  your  creed,  Mr.  Christian, 
when  you  die,  it  will  take  you  to  Jesus  Christ.  Follow  yours, 
Mr.  Baptist,  and,  when  you  die,  you  will  go  to  Philadelphie !  " 

The  amiable  Johnson,  taken  by  surprise,  struggled  very 
hard  to  keep  his  promise  and  his  gravity ;  but  when  he 
saw  his  brother's  droll  look  of  admonition,  bending  down 
upon  him  from  the  pulpit,  he  laughed  outright ! 

On  the  second  Lord's  day  in  September,  he  was  preach- 
ing with  Aylett  Raines,  Gurdon  Gates,  D.  S.  Burnet  and, 
others,  at  Minerva,  in  Bracken  County,  when  he  again  had 
occasion  to  deplore  the  existence  of  sects  among  the  people 
of  God,  which  evil  he  attributed  to  the  influence  of  creeds 
and  the  ambition  of  creed-makers.  He  illustrated,  in  his 
own  peculiar  way,  the  sin  of  schism,  and  the  reckless  trea- 
son and  impiety  of  those  who  scatter  and  divide  the  flock 
of  the  Good  Shepherd,  and,  gathering  them  into  different 
folds  or  pastures,  put  their  own  spurious  marks  upon  them, 
and  call  them  by  sectarian  names. 

"Farmers,"  said  he,  continuing  to  illustrate  his   idea, 


490  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"  mark  their  stock  in  different  ways  to  distinguish  them  ; 
one  will  crop  the  right  ear,  another  make'  a  swallow-fork, 
or  an  underbit  in  the  left  ear,  that  each  may  know  his  own 
property  from  his  neighbors.  Just  so  do  the  leaders  of 
the  different  religious  parties  put  ear-marks  on  their  flocks  ; 
they  distinguish  them  by  various  sectarian  devices  and 
names  ;  they  call  some  Presbyterian,  some  Methodist,  or 
Baptist,  so  that  all  may  know  to  whom  their  converts  be- 
long. Now  the  Lord  has  put  his  own  mark  upon  his  peo- 
ple ;  and  that  mark  is  this:  They- follow  me. — John  x:  27. 

"  But  these  sectarian  leaders,"  continued  he,  "  have  not 
only  broken  the  law  of  the  King,  in  thus  changing  the 
mark  which  he  put  upon  his  people,  but  they  have  enticed 
away  from  God  his  own  children,  and  bound  them  out  to 
other  masters.  Now,  it  is  against  the  law,  in  every  civil- 
ized land,  to  treat  a  child  in  this  manner,  when  his  father 
is  able  and  willing  to  provide  for  him ;  yet  this  is  the  very 
crime  that  has  been  committed  by  a  sectarian  priesthood  ; 
for  the  honest  and  pious  people  in  those  sects  are  God's 
own  children,  that  have  been  taken  by  wile  and  stratagem 
from  their  Heavenly  Father,  and  bound  out  to  hard  task- 
masters, contrary  to  justice  and  law." 

These  remarks  seemed  to  hurt  the  feelings  of  a  Presby- 
terian lady,  who  was  one  of  his  hearers.  That  night,  at 
the  house  of  Jesse  Holton,  with  whom  he  was  staying,  a 
good  old  sister  informed  him  of  the  fact,  and  told  him  that 
she  herself  thought  he  was  a  little  too  severe,  and  ought 
to  make  an  apology,  which  he  readily  promised  to  do. 

On  Monday,  when  he  arose  to  speak  again,  he  repeated 
what  he  had  said,  concerning  the  conduct  of  those  who 
.had  pressed  so  many  of  the  children  of  God  into  bondage 
to  human  systems.  "  But,"  said  he,  "  I  feel  that  I  owe  my 
sectarian  friends  an  apology ;  for  my  kind  feelings  on  yes- 
terday kept  me  from  telling  them,  as  plainly  as  perhaps  I 


ANNUAL  MEETING  AT  CLINTONVILLE.          491 

ought  to  have  done,  how  very  great  their  wickedness  in 
this  matter  is.  Now  I  say  to  all  you  poor,  bound-out 
children  of  God,  that  hear  me  this  day,  I  am  willing  to 
come  back  at  any  time  to  this  place,  institute  a  suit  against 
your  oppressors,  impanel  a  jury  of  the  twelve  apostles, 
with  the  Lord  and  Redeemer  as  judge,  and  plead  your 
righteous  cause  before  him,  till  I  convict  your  enslavers, 
and  have  them  consigned  to  their  own  place ;  and  this  I 
will  do,  without  fee  or  reward." 

This  apology  seemed  to  be  satisfactory  to  the  lady,  who 
was  again  present,  and  sat  in  full  view  of  the  speaker ;  for 
she  received  it  with  a  smile  that  seemed  to  acknowledge 
as  just  the  distinction  which  he  had  drawn  between  the 
culpable  party-leaders  themselves,  and  the  good  people 
whom  they  had  led  astray. 

The  great  annual  gathering  of  the  Christians  took  place 
that  year  in  October,  at  Clintonville,  in  Bourbon  County, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  church  of  Christ  at  that  place, 
of  which  Thomas  Smith  was  Elder.  By  virtue  of  his  office 
in  that  congregation,  he  now  presided  over  the  general 
meeting,  as  on  any  ordinary  occasion.  It  was  duly  an- 
nounced that  the  object  of  their  coming  together  was  to 
worship  God  according  to  his  Word,  for  the  advancement 
of  his  cause  and  glory;  that  the  church  at  Clintonville  was 
not  to  be  disturbed  in  its  organization  ;  and  that  the  breth- 
ren and  sisters  from  a  distance  were  there  as  visitors,  to 
assist  one  another  in  the  work  of  the  Lord.  Here,  among 
the  many  Christians  assembled  from  different  parts  of 
the  country,  and  in  the  presence  of  such  men  as  Thomas 
Smith,  F.  R.  Palmer,  L.  J.  Fleming,  and  John  A.  Gano — 
all  laboring  to  unite,  in  love,  the  true  disciples  of  Christ — 
John  Smith  and  John  Rogers  now  rehearsed  their  travels, 
and  cheered  the  friends  of  union  and  reform  by  their  ac- 
count of  the  remarkable  success  of  the  truth  during  the  past 


492  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

few  months.  From  their  general  report  then  given,  it  ap- 
pears that  several  hundred  persons  in  the  few  surrounding 
counties  had,  within  that  short  time,  been  immersed  into 
Christ,  and  that  the  two  parties,  in  nearly  every  place  which 
they  had  visited,  had  affiliated  in  work  and  worship  as  one 
people. 

In  his  various  tours  through  the  State,  Smith  had  dis- 
covered that  besides  the  standard  objections  every-where 
urged  against  the  doctrine  of  the  Reformers  by  the  popular 
ministry,  there  was  not  unfrequently  some  special  argu- 
ment, or  ingenious  fallacy,  peculiar  to  a  neighborhood, 
which  the  people  incessantly  plied  in  their  fireside  contro- 
versies with  the  Disciples.  These  provincial,  or  local,  ob- 
jections, however  futile  in  themselves  when  tried  by  reason 
or  Scripture,  acquired  weight  and  importance  from  popular 
use,  and  sometimes  greatly  retarded  the  progress  of  the 
truth  in  certain  neighborhoods. 

Among  the  Shawnee  Run  Baptists  of  Mercer  County, 
it  was  a  favorite  objection  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Reformers 
that  it  was,  at  most,  but  a  noisy  and  useless  clamor  raised 
about  things  indifferent ;  that  it  did  not  profess  to  add  any 
new  element  to  the  Gospel,  but  virtually  conceded  that  the 
Baptists  already  had  the  essence  of  the  matter. 

"We  have,"  said  they  to  their  reforming  brethren,  "as 
you  all  admit,  the  substance  of  the  Gospel ;  why  then  dis- 
turb the  peace  of  the  Church  by  your  unceasing  clamor 
about  the  form  ?  " 

John  Smith,  in  company  with  Jacob  Creath,  sen.,  and 
others,  at  last  came  among  the  people  of  Shawnee  Run, 
for  the  first  time  since  the  division  of  that  church  on  ac- 
count of  an  effort  to  proscribe  Josephus  Hewitt.  On  Sat- 
urday, he  spoke,  as  usual  in  warm  weather,  from  a  stand 
out  doors.  Adapting  his  remarks  to  the  audience,  he 
showed  that  the  Gospel  is  not-  only  a  matter  of  substance, 


SUBSTANCE  AND  FORM.  493 

but  of  form  also ;  so  that  if  its  form  were  changed,  though 
the  substance  should  remain,  the  Gospel  itself  would  be 
destroyed.  In  concluding  this  discourse,  he  said : 

It  is  the  order  in  which  the  several  parts  of  any  thing  are  put 
together  that  determines  its  form.  If  every  separate  piece  of 
that  chair  yonder  were  put  into  my  hands,  I  would  have  the 
substance  of  the  chair  only;  but  it  would  now  depend  on  th< 
order  in  which  I  should  re-arrange  them  whether  the  thing  I  make 
would  be  a  chair  again,  a  basket,  or  a  bird-cage.  In  either  case, 
I  would  still  have  the  substance  of  the  chair,  but  whether  one 
or  the  other  of  these  things  would  be  made  must  depend  on  the 
order  in  which  I  arrange  the  parts.  • 

Our  sectarian  friends  may  indeed  have  faith,  and  repentance, 
and  immersion,  and  remission  of  sins,  substantially,  in  their 
creed ;  but,  if  so,  they  have  most  awkwardly  and  unscripturally 
put  these  elements  together.  Hence,  they  present  to  the  peo- 
ple, not  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  something  called  Cal- 
vinism, or  Arminianism,  which  is  no  more  like  the  Ancient 
Gospel  than  a  bird-cage  or  a  basket  is  like  that  chair. 

That  night  he  was  taken  very  sick  at  the  house  of  a 
gentleman  in  the  neighborhood  by  the  name  of  Woods, 
who  at  the  time  was  not  a  professor  of  religion.  He  suf- 
fered much  through  the  night,  and  at  dawn  Mr.  Woods 
was  summoned  ;  he  found  him  much  prostrated,  and  in 
great  pain.  The  kindest  attentions  were  bestowed  upon 
him,  and  after  the  lapse  of  several  hours,  he  was  much  re- 
lieved. Still  his  weakness  was  extreme,  and  at  times  his 
pain  was  severe.  When  the  hour  for  meeting  approached, 
he  requested  that  his  horse  should  be  brought  out,  for  he 
would  try  and  get  over  to  Shawnee  Run. 

"Mr.  Smith,"  said  his  friend,  with  some  surprise,  "you 
can  not  stand  it.  You  can  not  make  even  a  basket  or  a 
bird-cage  to-day,  much  less  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  peo- 
ple. You  must  not  venture  out,  sir." 


494  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"  I  will  try  it,  anyhow,"  persisted  Smith. 

His  host,  seeing  that  he  would  not  listen  to  admonition, 
at  length  helped  him  upon  his  horse,  at  a  rather  late  hour, 
and  rode  by  his  side  toward  the  meeting-house.  Again 
and  again,  however,  as  he  sickened,  or  paused  to  rest,  on 
the  road,  his  friend  urged*  him  to  return  to  his  bed,  and 
give  his  body  and  mind  one  day's  rest;  but  his  heart  was 
with  Jacob  Creath  and  the  brethren,  and  he  went  reso- 
lutely on.  When  he  reached  the  spot,  they  helped  him  to 
dismount,  but  he  was  unable  to  stand.  The  great  congre- 
gation had  assembled,  and  the  morning  exercises  had 
begun ;  but  many  friends  came  and  gathered  anxiously 
around  him  as  he  lay  exhausted  on  the  ground.  They 
made  him,  at  last,  a  bed  of  their  saddle  blankets,  over 
which  some  good  sisters  spread  their  riding  skirts ;  and  he 
lay  down  in  much  distress,  upon  this  pallet,  under  a  shade, 
not  far  from  the  speaker's  stand. 

A  young  woman,  named  Elizabeth  Mizner,  whom  he  had 
never  seen  before,  but  whose  pleasant  face  was  beautiful 
with  compassion,  came  and  brought  him  water,  and  such 
simple  restoratives  as  she  could  find  in  the  reticules  of 
the  older  sisters ;  and  she  knelt  by  his  side  like  a  daugh- 
ter, now  and  then  moistening  his  hot  lips,  and  gently  fan- 
ning him*  to  rest. 

"  Is  she  a  Christian  ?"  he  asked  of  some  one,  after  awhile, 
when  she  had  left  his.  side  for  a  moment.  Learning  that 
she  was  not  a  member  of  the  church,  although  much  be- 
loved for  her  virtues,  he  could  not  repress  his  emotion, 
but  lay  and  wept,  that  so  kind-hearted  a  creature  should 
be  without  Christ  in  the  world. 

Jacob  Creath  was,  in  the  meantime,  addressing  the  peo- 
ple from  the  stand  hard  by ;  and  his  voice,  toned  with  its 
wonted  melody,  rose  and  fell  upon  the  sick  man's  ear,  and 
helped  to  soothe  him  into  quietude. 


STRONG  IN  WEAKNESS.  495 

When  the  discourses  of  the  morning  were  over,  and  the 
people  had  been  dismissed  for  an  hour's  repast,  Creath 
came  to  his  brother,  with  no  little  concern  for  his  condi- 
tion. He  expressed  his  regret  that  he  was  unable  to 
preach  ;  "  for,"  said  he,  "  the  people  are  all  anxiety  to  hear 
you,  and  they  will  be  so  much  disappointed." 

"Tell  them,"  said  Smith,  rising  partly  up,  "that,  God 
willing,  I  will  speak  to  them  this  afternoon."  . 

When  the  hour  came,  he  arose  in  his  weakness,  and 
making  them  gird  his  loins  with  a  handkerchief,  he  was 
helped  to  the  stand. 

There,  leaning  on  one  of  the  brethren  for  support,  while 
they  occasionally  refreshed  him  with  water,  he  declared 
the  Gospel  to  the  people  with  singular  power  and  effect. 
He  returned  to  his  pallet,  and  in  his  weariness  now  found 
a  little  sleep,  while  other  brethren  concluded  the  exercises 
of  the  day.  After  thus  resting,  he  was  refreshed,  and  then 
in  the  cool  of  the  evening,  returned  to  his  place  of  lodging, 
distressed  only  at  the  thought,  that  so  kind-hearted  a  crea- 
ture should  be  living  without  Christ  in  the  world ! 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 

Smith's  Manner  of  Preaching  in  contrast  with1  that  of  the  Clergy — Scrap  Preach- 
ing exemplified — "Then  cometh  the  Devil" — A  Methodist  Prays,  but  neg- 
lects to  Watch — Discussion  with  a  Calvinist  at  Stanford — The  Sword  of  the 
Spirit — Rendered  ineffectual — Difference  between  Immersion  and  a  Mourn- 
er's Bench — Grubbing  and  Preaching — Evangelical  Operations  for  1833  dis- 
cussed— Doubts  and  Fears — Christians  among  the  Sects — Smith  a  Close  Com- 
munionist. 

JOHN  SMITH'S  style  of  preaching  was  in  striking  contrast 
with  that  of  the  clergymen  around  him.  He  preached  the 
Gospel  in  every  discourse,  usually  contrasting  it  with  Cal- 
vinism, the  most  popular  religious  system  of  that  day, 
for  he  believed  that  its  tendency  was  to  render  the  Gos- 
pel powerless  to  convert  and  to  unite.  To  sinners  he 
preached  Christ;  to  saints,  union  and  reform.  He  never 
attempted  to  lecture.  He  had,  in  a  great  measure,  lost, 
by  neglect,  the  gift  of  evolving  from  a  single  phrase  or 
clause  of  Holy  Writ  a  theological  system.  He  had  ceased 
to  scrap  the  Book  for  doctrine  or  duty,  and  to  build  upon 
some  fragmentary  text  an  imposing  structure  of  thought 
or  fancy.  In  exposition,  he  analyzed  the  entire  context, 
and  carefully  sifted  whole  chapters,  comparing  spiritual 
things  with  spiritual.  In  a  word,  he  interpreted  and  ex- 
pounded the  Bible  by  the  canons  of  his  own  natural  sense. 

On  a  certain  occasion,  Smith  went  to  hear  a  distin- 
guished preacher,  who  addressed  a  large  audience,  in  the 


TEXT  PREACHING.  497 

town  of  Mount  Sterling,  from  these  few  words,  found  in 
the  Parable  of  the  Sower,  "  Then  cometh  the  devil?  The 
speaker  harped  on  his  text  somewhat  after  the  following 
fashion : 

The  young  man  begins  life  with  noble  purposes  and  joyous 
hopes.  The  prayers  of  a  pious  mother  go  with  him,  and  the 
counsels  of  a  prudent  father  are,  for  a  season,  hid  in  his  heart. 
He  lays  his  plans  in  wisdom,  and  prosecutes  them  honorably 
until  success  gives  him  position  in  the  world;  but — then  cometh 
the  devil! 

The  politician,  moved  by  a  false  ambition,  abandons  his  peace- 
ful fireside,  renounces  the  endearments  of  home,  and  becomes  the 
friend  or  servant  of  every  man  he  meets.  He  bows  and  smiles  him- 
self, at  last,  into  some  office  of  trust,  and — then  cometh  the  devil! 

The  scholar,  thirsting  for  distinction,  relaxes  his  muscles,  re- 
tires to  his  closet  and  trims  his  unwholesome  lamp.  He  grows 
pale  and  thoughtful,  and  patiently  wins  the  reputation  of  a  man  of 
learning;  men  approach  and  flatter  him  as  an  oracle  in  the  land, 
and — then,  too,  cometh  the  devil! 

The  young  tradesman,  immured  in  his  shop  or  counting-room, 
weaves  golden  dreams,  and  toils  for  years  to  realize  them;  and 
when  at  last  he  has  gilded  his  humble  name,  and  coffered  his  sor- 
did idols — then  cometh  the  devil! 

Even  the  preacher  receives  a  commission  from  the  skies,  and 
goes  into  the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord  to  break  the  bread  of  life  to 
a  hungering  people.  With  the  charms  of  ambitious  oratory  he 
steals  away  their  hearts,  and  soon  the  multitudes  begin  to  hang 
with  idolatrous  delight  upon  hjs  lips,  but — then  cometh  the  devil! 

The  audience  were  enraptured,  and  the  praises  of  the 
orator  were  murmured  by  the  bustling  crowd  as  they  re- 
tired from  the  house.  A  good  old  sister  of  the  church, 
whose  pious  heart  had  been  stirred  to  its  depths,  ac- 
costed John  Smith  at  the  door,  and  claimed  his  meed 
of  praise  for  her  gifted  preacher. 
42 


49$  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"Did  you  ever  hear  such  a  blessed,  godly  sermon, 
Brother  Smith,  in  all  your  life  ? " 

"Don't  call  it  a  godly  sermon,  sister,"  said  he,  "foi 
there  was  no  God  in  it,  nor  Christ;  it  was  all  devil." 

"  But  what  do  you  think  of  it  as  a  sermon  ? "  she  per- 
sisted, determined  to  make  him  confess  his  admiration 
"Was 'it  not  fine?" 

"  It  was  the  devilishest  one  I  ever  heard,"  said  he. 

In  some  places  he  found  that  the  advocates  of  creeds 
were  weakening  the  force  of  the  anti-creed  argument  by 
exalting  the  Scriptures  in  the  hearing  of  the  people  as  the 
only  ultimate  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  declaring  that  they 
were  as  strictly  conformable  to  the  directions  of  that  Book 
as  any  people  in  the  world ;  that  those  who  were  the  most 
noisy  in  its  defense  as  the  only  divine  Rule,  were  not  al- 
ways the  most  faithful  in  observing  it. 

Riding  along,  one  day,  he  fell  in  company  with  a  Meth- 
odist preacher  who  was  going  on  to  fill  some  appoint- 
ment. Their  conversation  soon  turned  upon  the  subject  of 
creeds  and  other  ecclesiastical  devices.  Smith's  compan- 
ion defended  his  Discipline  on  the  ground  of  expediency, 
and  claimed  that  his  brethren  were  as  faithful  in  keeping 
the  commandments  as  the  Reformers,  though  they  did  not 
make  so  much  ado  about  it.  This,  Smith  denied,  and  the 
discussion  grew  warm,  though  it  continued  kind. 

A  storm  of  rain  coming  up,  the  travelers  hurried  forward 
to  a  little  village  just  ahead  of  them.  They  took  shelter  in 
a  store,  or  small  shop,  where  several  farmers  had  gathered 
in  out  of  the  rain.  The  preachers  were  unknown  to  the 
company,  but  the  shop-keeper,  seeing  that  they  were  cold 
and  wet,  set  out  a  decanter  of  wine  upon  the  counter,  and 
pressed  them  to  take  a  glass. 

"You  are  the  oldest,  Brother  Smith,"  said  the  Meth- 
odist, "help  yourself  first." 


WATCH  AND  PRAT.  499 

Smith  went  forward,  and,  filling  the  small  wine-glass, 
drank  it  off. 

"Why,  Brother  Smith!"  said  the  Methodist,  who  had 
watched  his  opportunity,  "you  have  been  boasting  for  an 
hour  past  that  you  observe  the  Book  more  strictly  than 
other  people.  I  am  surprised  now  to  see  that  your  prac- 
tice does  not  accord  with  your  profession,  for  you  have  just 
violated  the  plain  injunction,  that  in  all  things,  whether 
we  eat  or  drink,  we  should  give  thanks ! " 

"  I  admit,  my  brother,"  said  Smith,  "  the  correctness  of 
your  teaching;  but  I  think  that  among  strangers,  and  on 
such  an  occasion  as  this,  we  may  enjoy  the  good  things 
of  the  Lord  without  making  a  display  of  our  piety  before 
men.  I  hope,  though,  that  you  will  be  as  careful  to  ob- 
serve all  the  commandments.  Drink ;  you  will  find  the 
wine  good." 

His  companion,  pouring  out  a  glassful,  set  it  down  on 
the  counter,  and  reverently  closed  his  eyes ;  but  Smith, 
seizing  the  glass  unobserved,  emptied  it  at  a  mouthful, 
and  quietly  replaced  it  on  the  counter.  The  Methodist 
took  up  the  glass  to  drink ;  but,  finding  it  empty,  turned, 
amid  the  laughter  of  the  crowd,  and  said : 

"That  was  some  of  your  mischief,  Brother  Smith,  I 
know." 

"Yes ;"  said  Smith,  "and  you  have  now  let  these  good 
people  see  how  a  Methodist  just  half  way  obeys  the  Book. 
We  are  told  to  watch  as  well  as  to  pray,  my  brother.  You 
prayed  well  enough,  but  you  neglected  to  watch,  as  the 
Scriptures  command,  and  have  lost  both  your  wine  and 
your  argument  by  your  disobedience." 

He  was  once  discussing  the  question  of  spiritual  influ- 
ence in  conversion,  with  a  worthy  Baptist  preacher,  who 
lived  in  Lincoln  County,  near  Stanford.  His  opponent 
had  denied  that  the  sinner  could  believe  the  Gospel  on  the 


500  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

simple  testimony  of  the  inspired  witnesses,  contending 
that  in  his  natural,  which  meant  his  unconverted,  state, 
he  could  not  receive  the  testimony  of  such  witnesses,  for 
the  Scriptures  plainly  declare  that  the  natural,  or  uncon- 
verted, man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 
But  he  claimed  that  the  Spirit  wielded  a  sword,  with 
which  he  opened  the  sinner's  heart;  and  he  founded  a 
specious  argument  on  that  metaphor  of  Paul.  In  reply  to 
this  argument,  Smith  said: 

If  the  brother's  position  be  correct,  then  it  follows  that  no 
man  will  ever  be  converted  while  the  world  stands.  No  sinner 
can  be  converted  by  the  Spirit  alone,  for  Jesus  declares  that  the 
world  can  not  receive  it;  neither  can  he,  according  to  the 
brother's  theology,  be  converted  by  the  words  and  testimony  of 
the  Spirit;  for  the  unconverted,  he  says,  can  not  receive  these 
things  of  the  Spirit.  If,  then,  the  poor  sinner  can  receive 
neither  the  Spirit  nor  the  words  of  the  Spirit,  by  what  sort  of 
hocus-pocus  is  he  to  be  converted  at  all? 

My  brother  may  argue,  however,  that  though  the  sinner,  in 
the  hardness  of  his  heart,  may  resist  the  Word  and  the  Spirit 
alone,  yet  the  Spirit  wields  a  sword,  which  no  man  can  resist. 
But,  to  place  in  the  hands  of  the  Spirit  such  a  converting  im- 
plement as  that  would  be  only  a  juggling  device,  to  deceive  the 
people. 

True,  there  is  a  sword  of  the  Spirit,  but  so  called  because  the 
Spirit  made  it,  and  not  because  He  wields  it.  It  was  made  for 
the  Christian  warrior,  who  is  commanded  to  take  it  in  his  own 
hand,  and  to  go  forth  and  fight  against  Satan  and  error.  Now, 
that  very  sword  is  the  Word  of  God  itself — this  blessed  Book — 
which  my  brother  says  the  unconverted  man  can  neither  under- 
stand nor  believe ! 

The  discussion  having  closed,  the  Baptist  announced  to 
the  audience  that,  on  the  following  Sunday,  he  would  speak 


SWORD  OF  THE  SPIRIT.  $01 

again  on  the  subject  of  Camplellism,  at  another  place  in 
the  neighborhood,  which  he  named. 

Smith  informed  him  that  he  could  not  be  with  him  on 
that  day,  but  proposed  that  some  brother,  then  in  the  au- 
dience, should  go  along  with  him  and  reply;  but  to  this 
his  opponent  would  not  agree.  "Then,"  said  Smith,  "I 
will  select  one  of  these  good  sisters,  who  will,  I  know,  be 
more  than  able  to  defend  the  truth  against  all  you  may 
say." 

A  deist,  who  was  present  during  this  discussion,  and  who 
had  long  rejected  the  Gospel  on  the  ground  that  while  the 
preachers  declared  it  to  be  good  news,  it  was  impossible 
to  believe  it  without  supernatural  aid,  now  confessed  that 
his  infidelity  had  been  only  the  disbelief  of  an  error,  and 
that  he  now  saw  that  the  Gospel  was  a  rational  thing, 
worthy  of  all  acceptation. 

At  another  time,  while  preaching  through  the  same  part 
of  the  State,  he  took  occasion  to  discourse  upon  the  sixth 
chapter  of  Ephesians,  dwelling  at  some  length  on  the 
sharpness  and  power  of  the  Sword  of  the  Spirit.  No  one 
having  accepted  the  invitation  of  the  Gospel,  he  was  about 
to  dismiss  the  assembly,  when  a  Methodist  preacher  arose 
and  asked  the  question : 

"  If  your  doctrine  be  true,  Mr.  Smith,  why  has  the  sword 
had  so  little  power  to-night?" 

"Because,"  promptly  replied  Smith,  "you  teachers  of 
human  systems  have  so  long  hacked  it  against  your  tradi- 
tions, and  wrapped  it  about  with  your  creeds  and  disci- 
plines, and  blunted  it  so  against  your  anxious  seats  and 
mourning-benches,  that  sinners  can  feel  neither  edge  nor 
point." 

"  I  'd  like  to  know  the  difference,"  said  the  discomfited 
preacher,  "  between  your  baptism  and  our  mourning- 
benrh." 


502  LIFE   OF  ELDER   JOHN  SMITH. 

"Difference?"  said  Smith,  with  much  emphasis;  "one 
is  from  Heaven — the  other,  from  the  saw-mill." 

Speaking  at  another  place,  on  the  plainness  and  sim- 
plicity of  the  Gospel  in  contrast  with  the  abstruse  systems 
of  men,  a  note  was  passed  up  to  him  from  some  one  in  the 
audience,  containing  this  question:  "If  the  Gospel  is  so 
very  plain,  as  you  say  it  is,  why  do  you  have  to  labor  so 
hard  to  get  the  people  to  understand  it?" 

"I  have  often  prepared  ground  in  the  wilderness  for  a 
turnip  patch,"  replied  Smith,  "  and  though  I  had  the  kind- 
liest soil,  and  the  best  of  seed,  and  the  sowing  was  easy,  I 
never  got  top  or  root  till  I  first  took  my  ax,  and  hoe,  and 
brier-knife,  and  went  in  and  whacked  and  grubbed,  and 
cleared  away  the  ground. 

"The  Lord  knows  I  do  not  esteem  it  hard  work  to 
preach  the  simple  Gospel  to  those  who  are  prepared  to  re- 
ceive it ;  but  it  is  labor  indeed  to  root  out  prejudice,  and 
cut  down  systems,  and  clean  away  the  sectarian  trash  that 
cumbers  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  people." 

Toward  the  close  of  the  year  1832,  the  importance  of 
retaining  the  two  Evangelists  in  the  field  was  informally 
discussed  among  the  brethren  about  Georgetown.  But 
even  so  late  as  October,  the  small  remuneration  proposed 
for  all  their  toils  and  sacrifices  had  not  been  sent  up  by  the 
churches.  The  brethren  throughout  the  State  were  again 
urged  by  the  treasurer  to  remit  their  contributions  without 
delay ;  they  were  told  not  to  fear  that  there  would  be  an  over- 
plus, for,  if  there  should  be  more  given  than  the  proposed 
allowance  of  three  hundred  dollars  to  each,  it  would  be  de- 
voted to  evangelical  purposes  during  the  coming  year. 

"  We  consider  it  highly  important,"  said  he,  "  to  continue 
the  same  system  of  operations  another  year ;  whether  we 
will  do  so  or  not,  depends  on  the  punctuality  and  liberality 
of  the  congregations." 


BAPTISM.  503 

All  formal  action,  however,  in  reference  to  the  re-ap- 
pointment of  the  two  Evangelists  was  deferred  till  April, 
1833.  In  the  meantime,  they  labored  on  in  the  cause, 
well  assured  that  their  brethren  would  do  right,  and — which 
was  their  chief  temporal  concern — that  their  families  would 
not  be  forgotten. 

Notwithstanding  the  result  of  the  year's  enterprise,  some 
were  still  fearful  that  the  union  was  in  danger  on  account 
of  the  diversity  of  sentiment  which  still  existed  on  the  sub- 
ject of  baptism ;  not  as  it  respected  the  act  of  baptism, 
for  all  were  immersionists  ;  nor  the  subjects  of  baptism,  for 
none  but  penitent  believers  were  immersed ;  nor,  in  fact, 
the  design  of  the  ordinance,  for  there  were  but  few  now 
that  denied  baptism  to  be  for  the  remission  of  sins.  But 
some  thought  that  there  were  many  in  the  kingdom  that 
had  received  the  remission  of  their  sins,  who  had  never 
been  immersed  ;  others  indulged  in  all  good  hopes  for  such 
persons,  but  confessed  that  they  had  not  sufficient  scrip- 
tural evidence  for  an  unwavering  faith. 

John  Smith's  sentiments  on  the  subject  of  the  commun- 
ion were  without  the  least  shadow  of  change,  the  same  as 
when  he  met  Dr.  Fishback  in  1828.  He  had  not  knowingly 
sat  down  at  the  Lord's  table  with  any  unimmersed  person, 
or,  when  any  such  persons  had  been  specially  invited.  There 
had  been  some  few  unimmersed  members — generally  old 
men — among  the  Christians  of  his  acquaintance,  but  the 
last  one  of  them,  though  quite  aged,  had  been  immersed 
not  long  after  the  union  meeting  at  Lexington.  But  now, 
there  was  neither  preacher  nor  any  other  member  among 
all  the  churches,  so  far  as  he  knew,  that  advocated  the 
practice  of  receiving  the  unimmersed  into  the  congrega- 
tion, or  of  open  communion  with  them. 


504  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER   XLIV. 

General  Representative  Meeting  of  the  Churches  at  Dry  Run — Plan  of  Opera- 
tions agreed  on — Smith  and  Rogers  re-appointed  Evangelists — John  T. 
Johnson  as  Treasurer— Cooperation  advocated — Opposition  increasing — John 
Smith  and  others  at  the  Forks  of  Dix  River — Bolts  and  Bars — Repels  a 
Calumny — Humorously  implicates  Elder  Thomas  Smith — With  George  W. 
Elley  at  Mount  Pleasant — Bolts  and  Bars  again — Elley  ordered  off  the  ground — 
Refuses  to  go — Preaches  from  the  Door  Stone — Smith  Preaches  from  a  Gig — 
Novel  seats — Smith's  humor — They  break  the  Loaf — "They  sang  an  hymn 
and  went  out" — Another  meeting  at  Mount  Pleasant — Benches  burned — 
Smith  Preaches  from  a  horse-block — The  Church  of  Liberty,  or  Keene, 
Organized — The  Cholera — Smith  falls  sick — Preaches  on — Remarkable 
success  of  the  Gospel. 


SOMETIME  in  the  month  of  April,  1833,  tne  following 
notice  appeared  in  the  Christian  Messenger: 

It  is  requested  by  several  brethren,  in  different  churches,  that 
there  shall  be  a  general  meeting  of  the  churches,  by  their  Bishops 
and  Deacons,  for  the  purpose  of  cooperating  with  regard  to  send- 
ing out  Evangelists  to  proclaim  the  Gospel,  and  to  appoint  four- 
days'  meetings  in  every  church,  which  may  desire  it,  north  of 
Salt  River.  The  meeting  is  proposed  to  be  held  at  Dry  Run, 
near  Georgetown,  on  the  last  day  of  April,  1833.  The  churches 
are  earnestly  requested  to  be  punctual  in  their  attendance. 

Accordingly,  on  the  thirtieth  of  April,  the  "Bishops, 
Elders,  Deacons,  and  Messengers,"  from  a  number  of 
churches  of  Northern  Kentucky,  met  at  Dry  Run,  and 
continued  two  days  in  worship  and  in  consultation  with 


CO  OPERA  TION.  505 

respect  to  the  best  method  of  advancing  the  Truth.  The 
question  was  raised,  Whether  the  practice  of  keeping 
Evangelists  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  should  be  con- 
tinued? In  this  they  were  all  agreed;  and  John  Smith 
and  John  Rogers  consented  to  ride  another  year,  and  to  go 
wherever  they  should  judge  it  to  be  most  profitable  to  the 
cause.  Confident  that  the  other  churches  north  of  the 
Kentucky  River  would  cooperate  with  them,  the  brethren 
then  assured  these  Evangelists  that  they  and  their  families 
should  be  supported.  John  T.  Johnson  again  consented 
to  act  as  Treasurer;  and  the  churches  were  requested  to 
correspond,  and  to  let  him  know,  as  early  as  possible,  how 
much  each  was  willing  to  give,  and  to  remit  to  him  in  reg- 
ular quarterly  payments. 

It  was  also  deemed  proper  to  advise  the  churches  through- 
out the  State  to  meet,  as  early  as  they  could,  in  their  dif- 
ferent sections,  and  appoint  some  of  their  most  efficient 
teachers  to  ride  as  Evangelists ;  and  each  church  was  ex- 
horted to  give,  according  to  its  ability,  as  much  as  would 
keep  them  and  their  families  from  want. 

They  thought  it  proper,  also,  that  on  every  Lord's  day 
there  should  be  a  general  meeting  of  the  brethren  in  the 
various  congregations  around,  to  continue  for  several  days 
together,  which  appointments  were  to  be  made  by  the  two 
Evangelists,  and,  in  due  time,  published  in  the  Messenger. 

"  Cooperation,"  said  Johnson  and  Stone,  in  publishing 
to  the  churches  the  conclusion  at  which  the  brethren,  in 
conference,  had  thus  arrived,  "cooperation  is  the  life  of 
any  cause,  and  division  its  death.  Let  us  frown  on  any 
attempt  to  divide  us — banish  speculation  from  among  us, 
and  let  not  opinions  be  ever  introduced  as  tests  of  Chris- 
tian fellowship.  If  ever  this  is  done,  there  is  an  end  to 
unity,  peace,  and  love." 

The  opposition  of  the  sects  was  now,  if  possible,  greater 
43 


5O6  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

than  ever ;  and  yet,  the  success  of  the  disciples  was  unpre- 
cedented. The  Baptists  especially  withstood  its  progress 
with  a  zeal  which  the  shadow  of  the  awful  pestilence  that 
was  now  approaching  seemed  not  in  the  least  to  abate. 
" The  Campbellites"  said  a  prominent  opposer,  " have  made 
the  gulf  between  us  impassable  by  throwing  themselves 
into  the  arms  of  the  Arians." 

About  the  first  Lord's  day  in  May,  the  two  Evangelists, 
with  Thomas  Smith,  William  Morton,  George  W.  Elley, 
and  others,  united  in  conducting  a  three-days'  meeting  at 
the  Forks  of  Dix  River,  in  Garrard  County,  a  place  but  a 
few  miles  distant  from  Lancaster.  A  strong  and  influen- 
tial body  of  Baptists,  comprising  about  one  hundred  and 
sixty  members,  here  met  regularly,  under  the  ministrations 
of  Elder  John  S.  Higgins,  Their  meeting-house  was  a 
rude,  cheerless  structure  of  stone,  of  no  very  pleasing  ap- 
pearance at  best ;  but,  when  symptoms  of  heresy  appeared 
among  the  members,  and  Arian  or  Campbellite  teachers 
began  to  profane  this  sanctuary,  bolts  and  staples  and  bars 
of  iron  were  purchased,  and  every  window  and  door  was 
stoutly  closed  against  them.  A  house  thus  rigged  with 
stone  and  iron,  and  standing  on  the  rocky  roadside,  could 
not  fail  to  impress  the  passer-by  with  the  sacrilegious  con- 
ceit that  it  was  a  sort  of  prison  for  the  lawless  or  the  in- 
sane. 

In  March  preceding  the  visit  of  our  Evangelists,  some 
four  or  five  persons  had  seceded  from  the  church  at  the 
Forks,  and  organized  upon  the  Scriptures  as  their  only  cov- 
enant ;  and,  on  the  same  day,  they  were  joined  by  ten  or 
twelve  others.  They  stood  firm  together  on  the  Bible,  as- 
serting the  right  of  private  judgment  as  the  inheritance  of 
every  free  man  in  Christ. 

John  Smith  reached  the  neighborhood  on  Friday  evening. 

"We  did  not  expect  to  see  you,  Brother  Smith,"  said 


SLANDER.  507 

one  of  the  friends,  "for  we  heard,  a  few  days  ago,  that 
you  had  been  prosecuted  in  Mount  Sterling,  for  stealing 
forty  hogs,  and  had  been  put  in  jail." 

Smith  smiled  at  the  story,  and  remarked  that  he  thought 
it  was  a  little  unfair  that  his  sectarian  friends  should  insist 
on  making  him  bear  the  sins  of  all  the  rascally  Smiths  in 
the  country.  But  others,  on  the  next  day,  assured  him  that 
his  enemies  were  busy  in  spreading  the  scandal  abroad,  to 
his  injury,  and  on  Sunday,  one  of  the  elders  begged  him, 
for  the  sake  of  the  cause,  to  notice  the  matter.  Smith,  at 
last,  promised  to  put  his  defamers  to  silence. 

Friends  had  erected  a  temporary  stage  for  the  speakers, 
and  prepared  seats  for  the  congregation,  not  far  from  the 
stone  meeting-house,  for  the  Baptists  had,  as  usual,  locked 
their  doors,  and  bolted  the  iron  bars  across  the  windows. 
When  the  hour  came,  he  stood  upon  the  stand  among  the 
elders,  and  before  the  multitude — all  curious  to  hear  what 
he  would  say. 

"Friends  and  brethren,"  said  he,  "it  has  been  asserted  by 
some  highly  respectable,  and,  of  course,  very  reliable,  gen- 
tlemen, that  I  am  now  in  the  Mount  Sterling  jail  for  steal- 
ing forty  shoats,  and,  consequently,  that  I  am  not  expected 
to  preach  here  to-day.  Now,  whatever  may  be  true  about 
the  hogs,  of  one  thing  you  may  rest  assured :  I  am  not  in 
jail  to-day.  Of  this  fact,  even  my  sectarian  friends  will  be 
convinced  before  I  leave.  The  Lord  knows,  brethren,  that, 
in  all  my  life,  I  have  never  looked  on  any  place  more  like  a 
jail  than  yonder  lonesome  house,  with  its  cold,  stony  walls 
and  iron  bars.  To  my  eye,  that  building  is  more  like  a 
place  for  criminals  than  a  home  for  peaceful  and  happy 
Christians. 

"But  I  am  glad  to  find  that  my  sectarian  friends  have 
become  so  morally  nice  as  to  condemn  the  stealing  of  a 
few  hogs;  we  may  now  hope  that  they  will  quit  worse 


508  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

crimes.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  stealing,  I  solemn- 
ly affirm  that,  bad  as  it  is,  it  is  not  so  mean  a  thing,  nor 
so  injurious  to  society,  as  the  wanton  slander  of  an  honest 
reputation ! 

"If  a  decent  community  ought  to  frown  upon  a  thief 
that  steals  a  few  paltry  hogs,  perhaps  to  feed  his  hungry 
family,  with  what  contempt  should  they  spurn  the  wretch 
that  defames,  by  falsehood,  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ — a  father,  too,  of  innocent  children,  who  can 
leave  them  no  other  legacy  than  a  pure  and  reputable 
life !  Truly, 

" '  He  that  steals  my  purse,  steals  trash ; 

But  he  that  filches  from  me  my  good  name, 
Robs  me  of  that  which  not  enriches  him, 
And  makes  me  poor  indeed.'  " 

"  Mr.  Smith,"  said  some  one  near  him,  as  if  conscience- 
stricken  by  his  earnest  words,  "it  was  not  you;  it  was 
another  Smith." 

"  Do  you,  then,  acquit  me,"  replied  Smith,  "before  I  deny 
the  charge?" 

"  But  there  is  some  mistake,  sir,"  continued  the  man ; 
"I  heard  that  it  was  Thomas  Smith." 

Elder  Thomas  Smith  was  sitting  on  the  stand,  but  un- 
known to  the  stranger  who  thus  implicated  him.  "* 

"  Friends,"  continued  the  speaker,  "  here  is  a  gentleman 
who  informs  me  that  the  thief  is  one  Thomas  Smith,  and 
not  myself,  as  some  of  you  have  heard.  And  now,  Brother 
Tom,"  said  he,  turning  to  the  amiable  and  much-beloved 
Elder,  who  looked  up  at  him  with  surprise,  "  I  know  it  to 
be  a  city  ordinance  of  Lexington,  where  you  live,  that  no 
man  shall  suffer  his  hogs  to  run  at  large,  or  about  the 
streets.  If,  then,  you  have  those  forty  shoats,  tell  this  gen- 
tleman where  you  have  hid  them." 


INCREASE  OF  OPPOSITION.  509 

"I  know  nothing  about  his  hogs,"  said  the  Elder,  with 
some  remonstrance  in  his  tone. 

"Sir,"  said  Smith,  addressing  the  stranger  again, 
"  Thomas  Smith,  whom  it  seems  you  do  not  know,  is  now 
here  on  the  stand  with  me;  but  he  says  that  he  knows 
nothing  about  those  hogs.  However,  he  will  be  here  in 
the  neighborhood  for  some  days  yet,  and  you  can  take 
him  up  whenever  you  please." 

The  accusers,  who  sat  around,  and  whose  names  Smith 
had  already  learned,  were  dumb ;  and  soon,  one  by  one, 
they  withdrew  from  the  audience  and  disappeared. 

At  Mount  Pleasant,  near  the  little  village  of  Keene,  in 
Jessamine  County,  there  was  another  large  and  zealous 
congregation  of  Baptists,  to  whom  Edmund  Waller  had 
for  many  years  been  preaching.  Some  of  his  flock,  how- 
ever, had  occasionally  strayed  into  forbidden  pastures,  and 
had  finally  forsaken  his  fold  altogether.  About  the  middle 
of  May,  these  dissenting  members  invited  George  W. 
Elley,  of  Nicholasville,  to  come  and  assist  them  in  the 
organization  of  a  church  on  the  Word  of  God.  Five 
names  were  duly  enrolled  at  the  first  meeting;  but  in 
June,  Elley,  reenforced  by  John  Smith  and  William  More- 
ton,  again  visited  the  little  congregation,  and  its  member- 
ship was  increased  to  twenty-one  earnest  and  intelligent 
disciples,  most  of  whom  were  from  the  Mount  Pleasant 
congregation. 

On  Saturday,  George  W.  Elley,  mounted  on  a  stone 
step  at  the  door,  was  about  to  address  the  people  stand- 
ing about  on  the  wet  ground — for  a  heavy  rain  had  fallen — 
when  a  committee  came  and  forbid  his  preaching  on  the 
premises. 

"  I  suppose,  gentlemen,"  he  replied,  "  you  have  per- 
formed your  duty ;  I  must  now  perform  mine.  The  house 
has  been  locked  against  us,  and  I  shall  oroceed,  therefore, 


5IO  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

to  the  worship  of  God,  standing  here  on  the  step  of  this 
door." 

The  exercises  of  the  day  closed  without  further  inter- 
ruption ;  an  appointment  was  made  for  a  meeting  next 
day,  and  a  request  was  added  that  neither  the  house  nor 
any  thing  about  it  should  be  disturbed.  The  entire  com- 
munity, on  various  accounts,  was  deeply  interested  in 
this  meeting,  and,  on  the  next  day,  a  great  many  came 
together.  Some  persons  had  early  taken  possession  of 
the  flat  rock  near  the  door,  and  when  asked  to  relinquish 
it  for  the  use  of  the  preacher,  they  refused,  saying  that  the 
trustees  had  ordered  that  it  should  not  be  used  as  a  pulpit 
again.  They  went  to  a  horse-block  close  by,  but  they 
found  a  guard  upon  it  also ;  the  man  that  put  it  there 
had  sent  word  that  no  Campbellite  preacher  must  stand 
upon  it. 

Such  opposition  excited  the  indignation  of  a  stranger 
that  was  present,  and,  although  not  a  member  of  any  church, 
he  hurried  off  to  his  gig,  and,  pulling  it  into  the  yard, 
lashed  its  shafts  to  a  walnut  tree  with  the  driving  reins, 
scotched  the  wheels,  stayed  the  bouncing  springs  with  a 
rail,  and  then,  turning  to  the  preachers,  politely  said, 
"  Now,  gentlemen,  you  can  preach  from  my  gig." 

John  Smith,  with  all  possible  dignity,  climbed  into  his 
novel  pulpit,  and,  looking  around  upon  the  multitude,  be- 
gan to  devise  some  means  for  seating  the  women.  Two  or 
three  piles  of  flat  rails  were  lying  close  at  hand — for  an  old 
fence  had  been  recently  removed.  Suggesting  that  these 
rails  might  be  laid  around  on  the  grass  for  seats,  some 
hurried  to  bring  them  away ;  but  their  opponents  had  an- 
ticipated them,  and  a  guard  was  seated  on  the  rails  also. 

For  a  moment  the  brethren  were  embarrassed ;  they  ex- 
pected to  break  the  Loaf  that  day,  and  to  hear  two  or  three 
discourses  besides.  But  the  woods  were  full  of  horses, 


A  NOVEL  PULPIT.  $11 

hitched  to  the  trees,  and,  in  a  short  time,  they  were  stripped, 
and  the  green  grass  was  covered  with  blankets  and  saddles. 
The  women  and  the  old  men  sat  comfortably  down  upon 
them,  and  all  were  pleased,  save  those  who,  from  the  door- 
stone,  the  horse-block,  and  the  rail-piles,  saw  the  failure  of 
their  petty  scheme  to  break  up  the  meeting. 

Smith  now  stood  up  again.  Adjusting  his  feet  to  the 
floor  of  the  gig,  and  looking  complacently  around  upon  the 
scene,  he  said  that  when  he  left  home,  he  had  not  expected 
to  find  at  Mount  Pleasant  so  elegant  a  pulpit ;  and  he 
ventured  to  say  that  they  had  not  dreamed  of  sitting  so 
comfortably  to  hear  him.  He  thanked  his  sectarian  friends, 
through  whose  awkward  contrivance  he  had  found  so  pleas- 
ant a  place  from  which  to  preach  the  Ancient  Gospel  to  them. 
"In  fact,"  said  he,  "I  could  not  wish  for  a  better,  unless, 
indeed,"  he  added,  "they  had  a  rope  fastened  by  one  end 
to  that  limb  up  there,  and  the  other  tied  about  here  " — 
putting  his  hand  to  his  cravat.  All  feelings  of  resentment 
were  allayed  by  his  humor;  and,  without  further  allusion 
to  the  opposition,  he  began  his  discourse,  and  brought  it 
to  a  most  impressive  close. 

In  the  afternoon  the  cloth  was  spread  upon  the  grass, 
the  bread  and  the  wine  were  set  forth,  and  the  brethren 
and  sisters,  many  of  whom  were  from  the  Clear  Creek 
church,  gathered  around,  and  partook  of  the  solemn  re- 
past. A  cheerful  song  concluded  their  worship,  and  Smith 
arose  to  dismiss  them.  Remembering  that  some  of  his 
brethren,  in  their  extreme  zeal  for  Ancient  Order,  had  ques- 
tioned the  propriety  of  a  benediction  after  the  Supper,  be- 
cause there  was  neither  precept  nor  precedent  for  it,  he 
gravely  adjourned  the  meeting,  according  to  the  new  ritual, 
by  saying :  "  They  sang  an  hymn  and  went  out ;  but  we  are 
out  now." 

Another  three-days'  meeting,   at  Mount  Pleasant,  was 


512  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

appointed  for  July ;  but,  on  account  of  the  cholera,  which 
was  now  raging  through  the  land,  it  was  postponed  till 
August.  In  the  meantime  the  brethren  made,  at  a  saw- 
mill near  by,  some  rude  seats,  and,  on  the  morning  of  the 
appointed  day,  they  hauled  them  into  the  church-yard,  and 
arranged  them  pleasantly  under  the  shade  of  the  trees. 
John  Smith  and  George  W.  Elley  were  with  them,  accord- 
ing to  promise.  The  worship  on  Saturday  was  uninter- 
rupted, and  the  brethren  went  home  in  the  afternoon,  an- 
ticipating a  happy  meeting  on  Lord's  day ;  but  when  they 
returned  next  morning  they  saw  with  surprise,  and  no  little 
indignation,  that  their  benches  had  been  piled  together 
during  the  night,  and  burnt  to  ashes ;  not  one  of  them  re- 
mained !  Their  feelings  could  hardly  be  restrained ;  but 
the  influence  of  that  religion,  for  which  they  were  suffering 
insult  and  persecution,  triumphed  over  their  resentment. 
Smith,  now  asking  leave  of  no  man,  stood  upon  the  horse- 
block, which  was  charred  and  blackened  by  the  confla- 
gration, and  spoke  to  the  people : 

"  Bad  as  this  is,  my  brethren,  Christians  have  often  fared 
much  worse.  Your  benches  only  have  been  burnt ;  but 
they  were  bound  to  the  stake  and  burnt  to  death  for  the 
sake  of  Jesus  and  his  Word.  Let  us  be  patient  toward 
our  enemies,  who  can  do  us  no  more  harm ;  and  let  us  be 
thankful  to  our  heavenly  Father,  that  matters  are  no  worse 
than  they  are." 

He  and  Elley  discoursed  to  the  brethren  and  their  friends, 
whom  this  outrage  had  multiplied,  all  seated,  as  before,  in 
their  gigs  and  on  their  blankets  and  saddles,  or  on  the 
rocks,  and  the  door-steps,  and  even  on  the  rails,  which  no 
one  now  ventured  to  refuse. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  this  silly  and  illiberal  op- 
position was  countenanced  by  all  the  Baptists  at  Mount 
Pleasant.  There  were  Christian  men  and  women  among 


TEE  CHOLERA.  513 

them,  who,  though  they  had  no  sympathy  with  the  doc- 
trine that  had  been  the  occasion  of  these  disorders,  con- 
demned the  spirit  of  violence  which  had  possessed  some 
of  their  brethren.  In  spite  of  continued  opposition,  how- 
ever, the  congregation  rapidly  increased  in  numbers,  and 
soon  the  church  at  Keene,  or  Liberty,  as  the  village  was 
then  called,  became  an  influential  society  of  brethren. 

The  interval  between  the  June  and  the  August  meeting 
at  Mount  Pleasant,  John  Smith  spent  at  home  among  the 
churches  of  Montgomery.  Language  can  not  describe  the 
terror  which  seized  the  people,  as  the  scourging  cholera 
swept  through  the  counties  of  Northern  Kentucky.  Per- 
suaded that  it  was  contagious,  many  fled  from  the  infected 
towns  and  districts,  and  hid  from  the  destroyer  among  the 
pines  of  the  mountain  solitudes.  Whole  households  were 
scattered  in  sudden  panic,  and  never  all  gathered  to  their 
firesides  again.  They  fled,  they  cared  not  whither ;  their 
houses  were  open  and  tenantless ;  the  morning  meal  was 
untasted  on  the  board,  and  sometimes  a  corpse  was  left 
unsheeted  in  the  silent  chamber.  Many  who  were  away 
on  duty  or  pleasure,  when  they  saw  the  shadow  of  the 
coming  pestilence,  hastened  home,  and  watched  in  awe  till 
the  plague  had  spent  its  fury,  and  the  anxious  days  were 
over.  In  some  parts  of  the  country,  farmers  that  lived  on 
the  public  roads  shut  in  their  trembling  families,  and  turned 
the  belated  traveler  or  terror-stricken  refugee  from  their 
doors.  Some  were  seen  to  stand  like  sentinels  before  their 
threshold,  with  gun  in  hand,  and  warn  off  the  importunate 
that  came  for  refuge  or  assistance.  Farm-gates  were 
locked,  entrances  were  barricaded,  and  the  beseeching 
holloa  was  unheeded. 

After  the  meeting  at  Mount  Pleasant  in  June,  Smith 
went  on  to  Frankfort  for  his  daughter — then  attending  the 
school  of  Philip  S.  Fall — and  at  North  Middletown,  on  his 


5  14  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

way  home,  he  was  seized  with  a  fearful  dysentery.  For 
some  days  he  struggled  with  the  disease,  which  many  sup- 
posed to  be  cholera;  but  he  finally  reached  his  house, 
though  prostrated  in  body  and  mind. 

It  was. not  till  the  26th  of  June  that  he  was  able  to 
preach  again ;  and  then,  and  for  some  time  afterward,  he 
could  only  sit  in  a  chair  and  talk,  in  his  weakness,  to  the 
people.  But  his  voice,  though  feeble,  never  fell  more  accept- 
ably or  more  powerfully  upon  the  ears  of  his  congregations. 
He  gathered  them  in  his  own  and  his  neighbors'  houses ;  he 
met  them  at  Mount'Sterling,  and  Spencer,  and  Somerset ; 
but  he  seldom  ventured,  during  the  period  of  his  convales- 
cence, more  than  a  few  miles  from  home.  Yet  he  talked,  not 
weekly,  but  daily,  to  the  people,  who  came  from  bedside 
watchings  and  burials  to  hear  him.  His  only  theme  was 
the  Gospel;  and  sinners,  aroused  by  the  fearful  judgments 
of  the  Lord,  listened  to  his  invitations  as  the  only  voice, 
amid  the  wailing  in  the  land,  that  was  pleasant  to  their 
ears.  Wherever  he  went,  they  were  ready  to  hear  and  to 
obey.  Accessions  were  daily  received — and,  sick  as  he 
was,  he  went  into  the  water,  sometimes  twice  a  day,  and 
immersed.  Thus,  in  the  five  or  six  weeks  that  he  was  at 
home  watching  anxiously  over  his  family,  but  disregard- 
ing himself,  he  immersed  about  three  hundred  persons 
with  his  own  hands — all,  save  a  score,  within  seven  miles 
of  his  house !  In  fact,  during  the  two  months  of  July 
and  August,-  within  the  bounds  of  a  few  counties  in  north- 
ern Kentucky,  more  than  one  thousand  were  added  to  the 
Church,  under  the  labors  of  Smith  and  other  faithful  preach- 
ers, who  toiled,  through  pestilence  and  sickness,  for  the  sal- 
vation of  souls. 

It  was  during  those  months  of  terror  that  Mrs.  Smith, 
alone  one  night,  with  her  children,  was  aroused  by  some 
travelers  that  were  fleeing  from  the  cholera :  they  begged 


NANCY  SMITH.  515 

for  shelter  and  rest  till  morning.  The  good  woman  took 
them  in,  and  made  them  as  comfortable  as  she  could.  In 
the  morning,  after  they  were  gone,  she  began  to  fear  that 
she  had  exceeded  the  requirements  of  hospitality,  and  had 
opened  her  own  door  to  the  plague,  and  exposed  herself 
and  her  loved  ones  to  the  contagion.  When  her  husband 
returned  home,  that  day,  she  told  him  what  she  had  done 
and  how  anxious  she  was  to  know  whether  she  had  don* 
right  or  wrong. 

"Nancy,"  said  he,  "you  did  exactly  right,  though  we 
should  all  have  to  die  for  it.  If  we  must  die,  let  us  die 
doing  good." 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XLV. 

Evangelizes  in  1 8  34 — Debate  with  Whitney — Entertains  two  Presbyterian  Preach- 
ers— Cherokee  meets  Greek. 

PREPARATIONS  to  keep  the  two  Evangelists  in  the  gen- 
eral missionary  field  for  another  year  were  early  made ;  in 
fact,  the  congregations  had  so  increased  in  liberality  that 
hopes  were  now  entertained  that  at  least  two  more  could 
be  supported.  Smith  accepted  the  call  of  the  churches, 
and  consented  to  travel  through  the  State  as  before,  and 
to  preach  wherever  the  interests  of  the  cause  might  re- 
quire. 

The  year  was  ushered  in,  however,  by  a  singular  con- 
troversy between  him  and  the  Rev.  Dewey  Whitney,  an 
accomplished  Presbyterian  clergyman  of  Mount  Sterling. 
Believing  that  the  people  generally  were  ignorant  of  the 
doctrines  of  their  creeds,  Smith  resolved  to  bring  every 
dogma  to  the  light,  that  they  might  be  left  without  the 
apology  of  ignorance  for  their  devotion  to  these  denom- 
inational symbols.  Accordingly,  at  several  places,  and 
with  great  plainness  of  speech,  he  had  sifted  the  Con- 
fessions of  Faith,  and  exposed  every  objectionable  tenet 
that  they  contained. 

"The  people  have  not  read  their  own  creeds,"  said  he, 
"and  I  do  not  believe  they  will  indorse  them  when  their 
errors  are  exposed." 


ASSAILS  THE  WESTMINSTER   CREED.          5 1/ 

Referring  especially  to  the  Westminster  Confession,  he 
declared  it  to  be  a  doctrine  of  that  creed  that  the  officers 
of  the  church  had  power  to  remit  sins ;  that  it  consigned 
non-elect  infants  to  eternal  perdition  ;  that  it  slandered 
mankind  at  large,  and  even  the  Presbyterians  themselves ; 
and  yet  the  orthodox  preachers  were  bound  to  inculcate 
its  unscriptural  doctrines,  or  expose  themselves  to  cen- 
sure. Many  were  astonished  at  these  declarations ;  some, 
for  awhile,  were  incredulous ;  the  Presbyterians  were  in- 
dignant ;  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitney  publicly  charged  him 
with  willful  misrepresentation. 

Aggrieved  by  such  a  charge,  he  called  on  Mr.  Whitney 
to  make  good  his  accusation,  or  publicly  to  withdraw  it. 
This  led  to  a  lengthy  correspondence ;  but  finally  it  was 
arranged,  through  the  intervention  of  friends,  that  a  pub- 
lic interview  and  a  discussion  of  all  the  points  at  issue, 
should  take  place.  A  preliminary  meeting  was  held  on 
the  2/th  of  November,  1833;  but  Mr.  Whitney,  though 
he  had  publicly  accused  Smith  of  falsehood,  declined  to 
make  the  specifications  which  were  demanded.  The  ac- 
cused determined,  notwithstanding,  to  meet  him.  Mod- 
erators were  selected,  and  clerks  were  appointed  to  take 
down  the  testimony  and  to  report  the  discussion.  The 
22d  of  January,  1834,  was  fixed  as  the  day  of  meeting; 
but,  until  the  morning  of  that  day,  Smith  was  kept  in 
ignorance  of  the  special  charges  which  he  would  have  to 
meet. 

A  little  while  before  the  debate  came  off,  two  Presby- 
terian preachers  from  some  of  the  more  eastern  counties 
called,  one  evening,  at  his  house,  on  their  way  to  a  meet- 
ing of  the  synod.  He  had  been  out,  hard  at  work,  all 
day,  and  had  just  come  in  with  his  dirty  tow-linen  apron 
on,  and  had  thrown  himself  down  on  the  floor,  before  the 
fire,  with  a  chair  for  his  pillow. 


518  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

He  heard  the  call  of  travelers  at  his  stile,  and  went 
out  himself  to  answer  it.  They  begged  permission  to  stay 
all  night.  It  was  quite  dark :  they  had  ridden  far,  through 
a  wintry  rain,  and  over  miry  roads,  and  they  were  weary, 
and  hungry,  and  cold.  He  ordered  their  horses  to  be  taken 
and  well  cared  for,  and  then  brought  the  travelers *into  the 
house.  His  wife,  seeing  that  they  were  well-dressed  per- 
sons, reminded  her  husband,  in  a  whisper,  of  his  unsightly 
apron,  and  asked  him  to  go  and  pull  it  off — which  he  did ; 
but  he  looked  none  the  less  rustic  in  the  eyes  of  the  gen- 
teel strangers.  They  had  no  suspicion  who  their  rough- 
looking,  but  kind-hearted,  host  was,  though  the  fame  of 
"Raccoon  John  Smith"  had  long  ago  reached  their  ears. 
Perceiving  that  he  was  unknown  to  them,  he  signified  to 
his  wife  a  wish  to  remain  so. 

"  Are  you  acquainted  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitney,  sir  ? " 
asked  one  of  them  at  length. 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Smith.     "Aint  you  both  preachers?" 

"  Yes,"  said  they,  "  we  are  now  on  our  way  to  synod. 
How  many  persons  have  joined  Mr.  Whitney's  church 
lately?" 

"  No  one,  as  I  know  of, "  said  Smith 

"A  great  many,  I  suppose,"  continued  the  stranger, 
"have  joined  the  new  sort  of  Baptists,  haven't  they? 

"Yes,  sir;  I  have  seen  hundreds  of  'em  baptized  my- 
self." 

"  They  refuse  to  baptize  little  children,  I  believe  ? "  they 
asked. 

"  Ah,  sir ;  they  wont  do  that,"  replied  Smith. 

"Why?" 

"  They  say  it  aint  in  their  Book." 

"Don't  they  know  that  the  Bible  commands  fathers  to 
dedicate  their  children  to  the  Lord  in  baptism  ? " 

"  I  reckon  not,"  said  Smith  ;  "  I  never  heard  any  of  'era 


ENTERTAINS  STRANGERS.  519 

read  it  that  way.  Please,  tell  me,  though,  where  the  place 
is,  in  that  Testament  there,  and  I'll  put  it  to  some  of 
'em." 

One  of  them  took  up'the  New  Testament,  which  was  lying 
on  the  table,  and  carelessly  turning  over  its  leaves,  said : 

"I  have  not  given  you  the  very  words,  my  friend,  but 
that  is  what  it  means." 

"If  you  would  just  read  to  me  something  in  there  about 
it,  I  would  be  much  obleeged  to  you,"  persisted  Smith. 

"Well,"  said  the  first  preacher,  "do  they  believe  that 
Peter  immersed  three  thousand  people  in  one  day  ? " 

"  I  Ve  heard  'em  talk  about  that,  too,"  replied  Smith ; 
"  they  say  that  there  was  a  hundred  and  twenty  there  be- 
side Peter." 

"  You  know,  too,"  said  the  other  preacher,  "  that  infants 
were  brought  to  Christ,  do  n't  you  ? " 

"I've  heard  that  read  a  hundred  times,"  replied  Smith; 
"  but  it  says  they  came  to  git  blessed,  do  n't  it  ? " 

"My  friend,"  said  the  first  preacher,  again,  "all  the  hun- 
dred and  twenty  persons  whom  those  Campbellites  talk 
about,  were  not  authorized  to  administer  the  ordinance  of 
baptism  ;  though  I  can't  believe  that  all  of  them  together 
could  have  immersed  three  thousand  in  one  day." 

"But,"  replied  Smith,  "one  of  their  big  men  says,  that 
about  twelve -of 'em  were  apostles  that  could  do  any  thing 
almost ;  and  seventy  more  had  been  preachin'  about  in 
pairs ;  which  makes  eighty-two  preachers,  the  way  they 
count.  Now,  one  of  you  just  please  figure  it  up  there  for 
me — how  many  would  each  of  them  eighty-two  preachers 
have  to  baptize,  to  git  through  with  the  whole  of  'em,  be- 
fore dark?" 

"  Nearly  forty,"  said  one  of  the  strangers ;  "  but  no  one 
man  can  go  into  the  water  and  immerse  even  forty  persons 
in  a  day." 


$20  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH, 

"O,  you  are  mistaken  about  that,  mister!"  said  Smith. 
"  I  seen  a  man  baptize  forty-one  the  other  day ;  a  Presby- 
terian held  his  watch,  and  it  took  just  forty-five  minutes. 
I  seen  that  myself." 

One  of  the  preachers  turned  and  looked  at  him  curiously, 
and  asked :  "  What  man  was  that,  sir  ? " 

"Nancy,"  said  Smith,  "what  was  that  man's  name  that 
done  the  baptizing  up  yonder  on  Slate  ? " 

"  It  was  Smith,"  said  she,  spoiling  the  jest,  however,  by 
an  ill-suppressed  laugh. 

"  So  it  was,"  said  Smith,  "  it  was  a  man  of  my  own 
name." 

"Are  you  not  the  very  man  yourself,  sir?"  demanded  his 
guests. 

"Yes,  gentlemen,"  said  Smith,  laying  aside  all  his  as- 
sumed awkwardness,  "I  am  the  man." 

"  Well,  well,  Mr.  Smith,  what  fools  you  have  made  of  us ! " 

"  No,  gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  /  had  no  hand  in  that." 

The  matter  was  now  pleasantly  laughed  off;  though, 
before  retiring,  one  of  them  again  insisted  that  there  were 
passages  of  Scripture  that  authorized  the  practice  of  in- 
fant baptism. 

"  There  is  not  one  such  passage,  gentlemen,"  said  Smith, 
"  in  all  the  Book.  However,  I  will  grant  you  that  there  is 
one,  and  but  one,  that  can  be  made  to  serve  your  purpose." 

"  And  what  is  that  ? "  they  eagerly  asked. 

" '  Submit  yourself  to  every  ordinance  of  man,'  i  Pet. 
ii:  13,"  said  Smith. 

His  guests,  somewhat  edified,  left  next  morning.  At 
Mount  Sterling,  tfiey  spoke  in  high  terms  of  their  host 
and  his  wife ;  but  confessed  that  they  had  been  no  little 
deceived  at  first  by  Smith's  rustic  appearance  and  sim- 
plicity of  manner. 

On  the  morning  of  the  22d  of  January,  a  deeply  inter- 


DEBATE   WITH  WHITNEY.  521 

ested  audience  assembled  in  the  Presbyterian  church  at 
Mount  Sterling,  when  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitney,  for  the  first 
time,  made  known  to  Smith  his  specific  charges  against 
him: 

1.  That  Mr.  Smith  was  in  the  habit  of  representing  the  Creed 
teachers  as  bound  to  preach  their  Creeds  in  opposition  to  the 
Word  of  God. 

2.  That  said  Smith  has  preached  that  the  Methodists  used  to 
receive  two-and-sixpence  for  sprinkling  infants. 

3.  That  said  Smith  has  labored  to  make  the  impression  that 
Creed  teachers  assume  the  same  prerogatives  as  the  apostles  in 
the  ministry  of  reconciliation,  to  make  and  propose  terms  of 
salvation. 

This  last  charge,  however,  was  withdrawn,  on  the  ground 
that  all  the  testimony  introduced  related  to  a  period  sub- 
sequent to  the  date  of  the  charge.  But  Smith  informed 
his  opponent  that,  when  the  present  business  was  disposed 
of,  he  would  reply  to  every  thing  that  he  might  see  proper 
to  allege  against  him  or  his  doctrine.  The  other  -charges 
Mr.  Whitney  endeavored  to  prove  by  several  witnesses, 
but  their  testimony  was  rebutted,  and  the  allegations,  in 
the  judgment  of  the  people,  were  not  sustained.  The  in- 
vestigation of  these  matters  continued  two  days,  and  at 
length  gave  place  to  a  more  formal  debate  on  the  follow- 
ing propositions,  which  Smith  boldly  affirmed,  and  which 
Whitney  as  boldly  denied: 

The  Confession  and.  Catechism  teach,  substantially,  i.  That  the 
officers  of  the  church  have  authority  to  forgive  sins. 
2    That  non-elect  infants,  dying,  go  to  perdition. 

3.  The  Creed  of  the  Presbyterians  slanders  them  and  man- 
kind at  large. 

4.  It  does  away  with  all  grace  on  the  part  of  God,  in  the 
justification  of  the  sinner. 

44 


522  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

It  had  been  stipulated  that  all  references  to  Scripture 
should  be  made  to  the  common  English  version.  Smith 
was  not  willing  to  give  his  opponent  any  undue  advantage 
over  him  by  reason  of  his  classical  attainments,  nor  any 
opportunity  to  take  refuge  in  the  fastnesses  of  Greek  and 
Hebrew  literature ;  he  was  perfectly  willing  to  confess,  too, 
what,  indeed,  every  body  knew,  that  he  was  utterly  igno- 
rant of  all  the  dead  languages. 

On  the  morning  of  the  24th,  he  opened  the  discussion 
by  reading,  in  support  of  his  first  proposition,  the  following 
passages  from  the  Westminister  Confession  of  Faith  : 

XXX — i.  The  Lord  Jesus,  as  King  and  Head  of  his  Church, 
hath  therein  appointed  a  government  in  the  hand  of  Church 
officers,  distinct  from  the  civil  magistrate. 

ii.  To  these  officers,  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  are 
committed,  by  virtue  whereof  they  have  power,  respectively,  to 
retain  and  remit  sins,  to  shut  that  kingdom  against  the  impen- 
itent both  by  the  Word  and  censures;  and  to  open  it  unto  pen- 
itent sinners  by  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel,  and  by  absolution 
from  censures,  as  occasion  shall  require. 

In  explanation  of  this  article  of  the  Confession,  Mr. 
Whitney  said  that  it  was  found  under  the  head  of  CHURCH 
CENSURES  ;  that  it  meant,  therefore,  only,  that  the  officers 
of  the  church  had  power  to  forgive  members  on  proper 
acknowledgments,  when  they  had  sinned  against  each 
other,  or  against  the  government  of  the  church  ;  and,  if 
due  acknowledgments  were  not  made,  to  retain  their  sins 
upon  them. 

Smith  replied  that  the  subjoined  texts,  on  which  the 
article  in  question  was  based,  clearly  refer  to  sins  against 
God ;  that  the  language  of  the  Confession  must  be  inter- 
preted in  the  light  of  those  citations,  and  that  the  plain 
import  of  the  words  of  the  Creed  itself  sustained  his 


DEBATE    WITH    WHITNEY.  523 

charge.  Besides,  he  argued,  if  Mr.  Whitney's  exposition 
of  his  own  Creed  was  correct,  no  private  member  could 
forgive  his  brother's  trespasses,  for  that  Creed  restricts 
the  power  to  forgive  such  sins  to  those  who  carry  the 
keys. 

In  support  of  his  second  affirmation,  Smith  again  read 
from  the  Confession: 

III — iii.  By  the  decree  of  God  for  the  manifestation  of  his 
glory,  some  men  and  angels  are  predestinated  unto  everlasting  life, 
and  others  foreordained  to  everlasting  death. 

iv.  These  angels  and  men  thus  predestinated  and  foreordained 
are  particularly  and  unchangeably  designed;  and  their  number 
is  so  certain  and  definite  that  it  can  not  be  either  increased  or 
diminished. 

X — iii.  Elect  infants,  dying  in  infancy,  are  regenerated  and 
saved  by  Christ  through  the  Spirit,  who  worketh  when  and 
where  and  how  he  pleaseth.  So  also  are  all  other  elect  persons, 
who  a^re  incapable  of  being  outwardly  called  by  the  ministry  of 
the  Word. 

iv.  Others,  not  elected,  although  they  may  be  called  by  the 
ministry  of  the  Word,  and  may  have  some  common  operations 
of  the  Spirit,  yet  they  never  truly  come  to  Christ,  and,  therefore, 
can  not  be  saved. 

In  addition  to  the  reading  of  these  articles,  he  argued 
that  the  non-elect  at  forty  are  non-elect  at  birth,  and  for 
such  children,  Christ,  according  to  the  Creed,  did  not 
die.  "Now,  do  the  non-elect  never  die  in  infancy?  The 
deluge  once  swept  a  world  away.  Is  it  certain  that  all 
the  children  that  then  perished  were  elect  ?  Earthquakes, 
famine,  and  pestilence  respect  neither  age  nor  condition ; 
do  they  always  pass  by  the  non -elect  ?  Besides,"  said  he, 
"is  it  any  more  cruel  or  unjust  to  send  infants  to  hell  than 
to  let  them  live  awhile,  and  multiply  their  sins,  without 
the  possibility  of  salvation,  and  then  to  deliver  them  over 


524  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

to  preordained  damnation?  Kinder  would  it  be  in  God, 
I  do  affirm,  to  let  the  poor  babes  perish  in  their  infancy, 
and  thereby  save  them  at  least  from  the  wretchedness  and 
sin  of  the  present  world." 

To  this,  Mr.  Whitney  replied,  in  brief,  in  the  language 
of  the  Confession — that  the  doctrine  of  this  high  mystery 
of  predestination  is  to  be  handled  with  special  prudence 
and  care. 

In  support  of  his  third  declaration,  Smith  read  from  the 
Larger  Catechism  : 

Q.  25.  Whence  consisteth  the  sinfulness  of  that  estate  where- 
into  man  fell? 

A.  The  sinfulness  of  that  estate  whereinto  man  fell  consisteth 
in  the  guilt  of  Adam's  first  sin,  the  want  of  that  righteousness 
wherein  he  was  created,  and  the  corruptions  of  his  nature,  where- 
by he  is  utterly  indisposed,  disabled,  and  made  opposite  unto 
all  that  is  spiritually  good,  and  wholly  inclined  to  all  evil,  and 
that  continually;  which  is  commonly  called  original  sin,  and 
from  which  do  proceed  all  actual  transgression. 

It  will  better  serve  to  illustrate  Smith's  peculiar  manner 
of  handling  this  passage,  to  relate  a  conversation  held  with 
a  Presbyterian  just  before  the  debate,  who,  like  his  brethren 
generally,  was  charging  him  with  misrepresentation  of 
their  views. 

"I  understand,  Mr.  Smith,  that  you  say  we  do  not  be- 
lieve our  own  Confession,  and  that  it  actually  slanders  us?" 

"  I  did  say  so,"  replied  Smith. 

"  Sir,  we  hold  to  every  word  of  it  as  God's  truth,  believ- 
ing it  with  all  our  hearts,"  said  the  Presbyterian. 

"  I  think,"  said  Smith,  "  I  can  prove  that  you  do  not 
believe  it." 

"  Perhaps  I  may  not  credit  your  witnesses,  sir." 

"I  need  but  one,"  said  he,  "and  whether  he  is  a  credi- 


DEBATE   WITH   WHITNEY.  525 

ble  one  or  not  I  will  let  you  judge.  You  are  that  wit- 
ness ;  now,  will  you  depose  with  candor  ? " 

"  Certainly  I  will,"  said  the  man. 

"Your  creed  says  that  you  are  wholly  inclined  to  all 
evil.  Now,  in  my  neighborhood,  we  regard  lying,  theft, 
adultery,  murder,  and  drunkenness  as  evil ;  were  you,  be- 
fore your  conversion,  wholly  inclined  to  these  things? 
And  we  look  upon  honesty  and  truthfulness  as  good; 
were  you  always  utterly  indisposed,  disabled,  and  made 
opposite  to  these  things? 

"Now,"  continued  Smith,  "some  of  your  own  brethren 
are  my  neighbors,  and  I  might  say,  friends,  although  I 
can  not  indorse  their  creed.  I  have  known  them  long 
and  well — their  sons  and  their  daughters — and  I  can,  in 
the  most  positive  manner,  vindicate  them  from  this  charge 
of  utter  and  entire  corruption.  For,  before  their  conver- 
sion, as  well  as  since  that  time,  they  were  not  only  dis- 
inclined to  these  evil  things,  but,  from  their  very  souls, 
they  shrunk  from  the  practice  of  them.  And  do  you,  sir, 
now  charge  the  love  of  such  vices  upon  them,  and  confess, 
too,  in  open  court,  that  you  are  just  as  guilty  as  they? 
If  so,  you  are  a  worse  man  than  I  supposed,  and  ought, 
in  justice,  to  be  in  prison,  for  your  creed  declares  that, 
even  since  your  conversion,  this  dreadful  corruption  re- 
mains in  you!" 

His  fourth  and  last  proposition — that  the  Confession 
of  Faith  makes  grace,  on  the  part  of  God,  in  the  pardon 
of  the  sinner,  impossible — he  maintained  as  a  logical  con- 
sequence of  a  commercial  view  of  the  atonement.  If  Christ 
actually  discharged  the  sinner's  debt  and  satisfied  all  de- 
mands against  him,  it  may  be  just  in  God  to  pardon,  but 
surely  there  can  be  no  grace  in  his  acquittal. 

Besides,  he  argued,  the  Gospel,  as  a  system  of  grace, 
is  good  news;  but  that  which  assures  a  man  that  he  is 


526  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

a  sinner  by  nature,  and  exposed  to  all  the  pains  of  hell 
forever — that  there  is  no  salvation  for  him  unless  arbi- 
trarily elected  without  effort  or  conditions  on  his  part, 
which  election,  too,  it  is  always  a  point  of  merit  to  be 
doubtful  of — such  a  revelation  surely  can  not  be  good 
news,  and  it  is  not,  therefore,  the  Gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

During  the  debate,  Mr.  Whitney,  at  one  time,  forgot 
the  agreement  that  no  appeal  should  be  made  to  the  Greek 
or  Hebrew  Scriptures.  Closely  pressed  by  one  of  his 
opponent's  arguments,  he  introduced,  by  way  of  reply,  a 
citation  from  the  Greek.  Smith's  ear  instantly  caught  the 
strange  sounds,  and  he  was  about  to  rise  to  a  point  of 
order;  but,  looking  over  the  large  audience,  he  saw  that 
not  a  man  in  the  house,  save  his  learned  opponent  him- 
self, understood  one  word  of  the  matter  in  hand.  He  suf- 
fered him,  therefore,  to  proceed,  without  interruption,  to 
the  close.  He  then  arose,  and,  after  replying  to  every 
thing  relevant  to  the  question,  he  said : 

"It  was  my  fortune,  as  you  all  know,  my  friends,  to  be 
raised  on  a  frontier,  where  I  had  no  opportunity  to  acquire 
a  collegiate  education.  I  am  unable  to  say,  therefore, 
whether  the  gentleman  has  spoken  good  Greek,  or  even 
Greek  at  all.  But,  lest  some  of  you  may  suppose  that  there 
is  argument  in  an  unknown  tongue,  I  will  attempt  to  an- 
swer the  gentleman's  Greek  also.  When  my  father  first 
settled  in  Kentucky,  many  Cherokee  Indians  used  to  come 
about  on  friendly  hunting  excursions.  I  was  a  lad  then, 
but  was  always  fond  of  hanging  about  their  camp  and  ob- 
serving their  ways,  and  I  learned,  at  last,  a  little  of  their 
language." 

Suddenly  turning  to  his  reverend  opponent  and  taking 
the  attitude  of  an  Indian  brave  in  the  act  of  letting  fly  an 


CHEROKEE   VS.  GREEK.  527 

arrow  at  his  foe,  he  exclaimed,  with  a  strong  Cherokee 
accent:  "Segilluh  unuhsohee  unaka  howee  taw!" 

With  a  stamp  of  his  foot,  he  gave  a  startling  emphasis 
to  the  last  word ;  the  bow-string  twanged,  the  arrow  sped, 
and  his  opponent  started,  as  if  a  Cherokee  warrior  was 
upon  him. 


528  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XLVI. 

Tour  Southward — A  Moral  Waste — Missionary  Enterprise — Objections — Letter  of 
John  Rogers — Controversy  with  Rev.  Mr.  Stephensom — Removes  to  Ow- 
ingsville — Evangelization— A  new  Scheme — Smith  on  his  farm — Palsy. 

SMITH  continued  to  labor  that  year  as  an  Evangelist  in 
the  counties  of  Nicholas,  Bourbon,  Harrison,  Scott,  Wood- 
ford,  and  Fayette,  till  July,  when  he  again  made  a  tour 
southward,  through  the  counties  of  Garrard,  Lincoln,  Pu- 
laski,  Wayne,  and  Cumberland,  into  Tennessee  and  Ala- 
bama, in  order  to  instruct  the  Disciples,  and  to  strengthen 
them  against  the  formidable  opposition  that  was  every- 
where arrayed  against  them. 

"I  can  assure  you,"  says  he,  in  his  report,  "that  the 
Christians,  in  our  own  section  of  the  country,  see  but  a 
small  corner  of  the  field  which  loudly  calls  for  laborers.  In 
those  parts  through  which  I  have  recently  traveled,  there 
are  thousands  of  people  who  have  never  heard  the  Gospel 
proclaimed  in  its  primitive  purity  and  simplicity.  The 
sects  are  completely  buried  in  the  rubbish  of  their  own 
traditions,  and  sinners  do  not  know  what  they  must  do  to 
be  saved ;  and  in  many,  very  many,  places  there  is  no  one 
to  tell  them.  Hundreds  are  begging  for  some  one  to  visit 
them,  and  teach  them.  I  did  not  remain  long  enough  at 
any  one  place  to  deliver  more  than  one  discourse,  except 
in  two  cases ;  an4  of  course  had  not  an  opportunity  of 


EVANGELIZATION. 

gathering  much  fruit  Notwithstanding  all  the  disadvan- 
tages, thirty- five  made  the  good  confession  during  my 
tour.  If  you  wish  to  see  a  complete  moral  waste,  take  a 
journey  through  that  part  of  the  country;  and  I  think 
your  spirit  will  be  stirred  within  you,  to  see  the  people 
wholly  given  to  sectarianism.  Still,  the  prospects  for 
doing  good  are  abundant  and  flattering.  The  great  body 
of  the  people  would  hear  and  obey,  if  they  had  the  oppor- 
tunity." 

The  churches,  generally,  in  northern  and  central  Ken- 
tucky, were  at  last  becoming  alive  to  the  importance  of  co- 
operative, evangelical  enterprise.  The  result  of  the  experi- 
ment, instituted  in  1832,  had  demonstrated  the  wisdom  of 
combined  missionary  effort  to  spread  the  Gospel.  The 
success  of  John  Smith  and  John  Rogers  now  inspired  the 
more  zealous  brethren  with  the  hope  that,  if  these  first 
Evangelists  of  the  church  could  be  longer  sustained,  and 
properly  reinforced,  the  last  vestige  of  sectarianism  would, 
in  a  few  years,  disappear  from  the  State. 

An  interesting  four-days'  meeting  was  held  in  August, 
in  the  town  of  Shelbyville,  by  Elders  Morton,  Rogers, 
Allen,  Gates,  Hall,  Thomas  Smith,  and  others.  These 
brethren,  with  the  church  at  that  place,  in  a  special  confer- 
ence on  the  last  day  of  the  meeting,  took  the  whole  subject 
of  evangelizing  under  prayerful  consideration.  They  dis- 
cussed the  importance  of  employing  additional  means  for 
setting  in  order  the  things  that  were  wanting  in  the 
churches,  and  for  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  world — 
agreeing  unanimously  that,  in  order  to  convert  the  world, 
"something  should  be  done  which  the  churches  were  not 
yet  doing."  They  endeavored  to  ascertain  the  scriptural 
plan  and  method  of  procedure,  and  finally  concluded  that, 
"  As  the  church  is  the  light  of  the  world,  the  pillar  and  sup- 
port of  the  truth,  and  as  the  word  of  the  Lord  sounded  out 
45 


53°  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

from  the  primitive  churches,  and  as  the  church  at  Antioch 
sent  Paul  and  Barnabas,  and  as  other  churches  sent  Tim- 
othy and  others,  and  helped  them  on  the  way,  so  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  churches  now  to  send  and  support  Evangelists 
in  the  great  and  necessary  work  of  the  preaching  of  the 
Word." 

But  there  were  others  who  still  refused  their  aid  to  sus- 
tain Evangelists,  on  the  ground  that  no  such  functionaries 
were  needed — it  being  the  mission  of  the  Church  itself  to 
convert  the  world.  Some  maintained  that  the  power  to 
convert  was  in  the  inspired  Word  alone,  and  that  the  Bi- 
ble, and  not  the  preacher,  was  the  true  missionary  to  the 
world ;  others,  again,  admitted  the  necessity  of  public  re- 
ligious teachers  of  some  sort,  but  could  find  no  authority 
for  any  other  than  the  bishop  or  elder  of  a  congregation. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1834,  many  became  solicitous 
to  learn  whether  John  Smith  and  John  Rogers  would  con- 
tinue their  labors  as  Evangelists'  for  another  year. 

"We  are  happy  to  have  it  in  our  power  to  answer  in 
the  affirmative,"  writes  Johnson.  "No  two  men  would 
be  more  acceptable ;  and  none,  we  are  well  assured,  could 
render  more  essential  service  to  the  cause  in  which  we 
are  engaged.  They  have  labored  with  an  untiring  zeal, 
devotion,  and  prudence,  becoming  their  high  calling  as 
Evangelists  of  the  King  of  saints.  Several  thousand  have 
been  benefitted  by  their  work  of  faith,  labor  of  love,  and 
patience  of  hope  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  They  seem 
to  have  constantly  before  their  mind  the  great  sacrifice 
which  the  Son  of  God  made  to  redeem  sinners.  Thus 
influenced  in  the  cause  of  our  King,  they  are  determined, 
for  the  present,  to  continue  in  the  field  and  contend  for 
laurels  that  will  never  fade  away." 

John  Rogers,  however,  in  the  April  following,  was  com- 
pelled to  abandon  the  general  missionary  work.  An  af- 


JOHN  ROGERS.  531 

flicted  wife  and  dependent  children  demanded  his  constant 
presence  at  home.  The  loss  of  his  valuable  services  at 
this  crisis  was  greatly  felt.  Still  he  labored  with  success 
among  the  churches  in  his  neighborhood,  endeavoring 
more  especially  to  restore  the  Ancient  Order  in  every 
congregation.  In  the  letter  which  this  good  and  useful 
man  wrote  to  Johnson,  after  reviewing  the  past,  and 
gratefully  acknowledging  the  kindness  of  all  the  breth- 
ren, he  adds,  with  impressive  emphasis  and  candor: 

There  is  one  thing  in  this  retrospect  that  greatly  mars  my 
peace,  which  I  think  it  my  duty  to  state :  That,  while  we  made 
converts  by  hundreds,  we  did  not  more  strongly  urge  conformity 
to  the  apostolic  order  of  worship  established  in  the  first  churches. 
I  am  now  thoroughly  convinced  that,  where  this  order  is  not 
established,  but  little  is  gained  in  the  cause  of  Christian  refor- 
mation. Converts  we  may  make  by  scores,  but,  if  this  order  be 
not  set  on  foot  among  them,  they  will  either  go  to  the  world 
again,  or  degenerate  into  sectarians. 

And  it  is  certain  that  our  want  of  conformity 

to  the  whole  will  of  God,  upon  which  we  so  much  insist,  has 
done,  and  is  doing,  us  more  harm  than  all  our  opponents ;  nay, 
than  all  other  causes  together.  We  have  directed  our  attention 
to  proselyting  more  than  to  training  the  proselytes. 

I  must  be  permitted  to  say  again  what  I  have 

often  said  in  effect  in  my  public  addresses :  that,  unless  this 
Reformation  be  greatly  reformed,  we  may  not  hope  to  succeed. 
There  must  be  less  conformity  to  this  world,  and  more  conform- 
ity to  the  will  of  God. 

In  the  spring  or  summer  of  that  year — 1835 — John 
Smith  became  involved  in  a  controversial  correspondence 
with  the  Rev.  Edward  Stephenson,  an  able  minister  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  This  gentleman  had 
been  appointed,  in  the  autumn  of  1834,  to  the  Mount 
Sterling  station — some  of  his  friends  declaring  at  the  time 


S32  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

that  it  was  for  the  special  purpose  of  arresting  the  prog- 
ress of  Campbellism  in  that  region  of  country.  Not  long 
after  his  arrival,  he  announced  to  the  public  his  intention 
to  deliver  a  series  of  lectures  upon  the  main,  distinctive 
items  of  doctrine  as  found  in  the  writings  of  Alexander 
Campbell.  He  added  afterward  that,  when  his  series  of 
lectures  was  concluded,  he  would,  if  called  on,  meet  the 
well -known  and  acknowledged  leader  of  the  Reformers  in 
that  section  of  the  State,  on  the  propositions  assumed. 

He  was  in  due  time  requested  by  John  Smith  and  Buck- 
ner  H.  Payne  to  name  the  man  alluded  to  by  him  as  a 
leader,  and  to  state  definitely,  in  writing,  the  propositions, 
which,  as  opposed  to  Mr.  Campbell's  views,  he  would  en- 
deavor to  sustain.  After  some  delay,  he  replied  that  John 
Smith  was  the  individual  whom  public  opinion  had  long 
since  identified  as  the  prominent  leader,  in  that  region  at 
least,  of  the  religious  community  with  which  he  stood  con- 
nected. Just  at  that  juncture,  however,  Alexander  Camp- 
bell himself,  returning  from  Nashville,  reached  the  town  of 
Mount  Sterling  on  his  way  to  Virginia ;  and  Mr.  Stephen- 
son  immediately  addressed  him  a  note,  in  which,  after  re- 
ferring to  his  correspondence  with  Smith,  he  proposed : 

"  If  it  be  your  desire  to  assume  the  place  of  Mr.  Smith 
in  this  case,  your  wish  shall  be  gratified,  provided  Mr. 
Smith  will  give  me  an  explicit  avowal  of  his  disposition  to 
decline  the  place." 

"You  have  as  much  mistaken  my  character,"  said  Mr. 
Campbell,  in  reply  to  him,  "  as  you  have  the  Christian  sys- 
tem, if  you  imagine  that  I  feel  myself  in  duty  bound  to 
turn  aside  from  my  appointments  to  debate  on  Methodism 
or  Presbyterianism,  with  any  person  who  takes  it  into  his 
head  to  distinguish  himself  with  the  title  of  the  Defender 
of  the  Faith  of  his  party.  The  note  you  have  had  pre- 
sented to  me,  after  the  bearer  had  clearly  ascertained  that  I 


REMOVES  TO    OWINGSVILLE.  533 

was  leaving  town  this  morning  to  meet  my  appointments 
in  Mason  County,  informs  me  that  you  have  challenged 
Brother  John  Smith,  of  this  county,  on  some  propositions 
excogitated  in  a  series  of  lectures,  of  the  literary  and  moral 
character  of  which  I  have  learned  nothing,  delivered,  or  to 
be  delivered,  by  you  in  this  place,  touching  the  Christian 
religion.  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  gentleman  is  every  way 
qualified  to  defend  the  Christian  religion  from  your  as- 
saults ;  and  am  not  without  some  faint  hope  that,  if  he 
should  not  be  able  to  convince  you,  he  may  be  the  instru- 
ment of  saving  some  of  your  brethren  from  the  delusions 
of  a  sectarian  religion." 

Smith,  after  waiting  till  near  the  middle  of  June  for 
Mr.  Stephenson  to  conclude  his  lectures  on  Campbellism, 
which  he  had  begun  in  January,  now  pressed  upon  him 
the  contemplated  discussion ;  but  after  a  voluminous  cor- 
respondence, which  dragged  on  till  September,  he  found  it 
impossible  to  agree  with  his  opponent  on  any  propositions 
that  properly  set  forth  the  distinctive  doctrine  of  Mr. 
Campbell  and  his  brethren. 

In  the  meantime,  having  sold  his  farm  in  Montgomery, 
Smith  bought  land  near  Owingsville,  in  Bath  County,  to 
which  he  moved  in  the  month  of  August.  He  still  con- 
tinued to  preach,  however,  to  the  congregations  in  Mont- 
gomery, laboring  especially  to  set  every  thing  in  order,  and 
to  advance  them  in  the  knowledge  and  observance  of  all 
things  that  had  been  commanded.  He  had  found  it  very 
difficult  to  induce  the  country  churches,  whose  members 
were  scattered  over  a  widely-extended  ditsrict,  and  who 
had  been  accustomed  to  meet  but  once  a  month,  and 
then  mainly  to  hear  a  sermon,  J:o  come  together  regularly, 
every  Lord's  day,  for  social  worship  and  mutual  instruc- 
tion. Few  were  willing,  as  yet,  to  take  upon  themselves 
the  office  of  bishop,  although  zealous  enough  in  the  pri- 


534  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

vate  defense  of  the  truth.  It  was  not  till  the  year  1836 
that  the  brethren,  even  at  Spencer  and  Somerset,  agreed 
to  meet  every  Lord's  day  to  observe  the  ordinances  as  they 
were  delivered. 

The  resignation  of  John  Rogers  as  an  Evangelist,  and 
the  probability  that  John  Smith  also  would  be  constrained 
to  retire  from  the  field,  together  with  the  known  wants  of 
the  churches,  and  the  general  condition  of  the  cause,  as  re- 
ported by  these  faithful  Evangelists,  weighed  on  the  heart 
of  Johnson  and  others,  until,  finally,  they  resolved  on  a 
plan  of  operations,  which  they  believed  would,  if  generally 
adopted,  meet  the  demands  of  the  cause  with  respect  both 
to  the  church  and  the  world. 

During  an  annual  meeting  at  Mount  Carmel,  in  Bourbon 
County,  which  commenced  Friday  before  first  Lord's  day 
in  September,  1835,  the  preachers  and  other  brethren  met 
at  the  house  of  the  excellent  Noah  Spears,  for  the  purpose 
of  taking  into  consideration  the  subject  of  evangelizing. 
After  an  interchange  of  views  on  the  subject,  the  following 
propositions  were  unanimously  agreed  to : 

ist.  That  there  should  be  men  employed  to  set  the 
churches  in  order,  and  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  those  with- 
out the  kingdom — men  of  intelligence  and  moral  worth — 
efficient  men,  who  could  give  themselves  wholly  to  the 
work  of  an  Evangelist. 

2d.  It  was  agreed  that  the  most  successful  method  of 
operating  was  for  each  Evangelist  to  take  a  small  district 
of  country  for  the  field  of  his  operation,  say  one  or  two 
counties,  and  cultivate  it  well. 

3d.  That  the  most  certain  and  satisfactory  way  of  ob- 
taining the  means  of  support  was  by  subscription. 

It  was  then  agreed  that  there  should  be  a  meeting  ap- 
pointed at  Georgetown,  commencing  Friday  before  the 
first  Lord's  day  in  November  following,  to  which  a  mes- 


MISSIONARY  SCHEME.  535 

senger  should  he  sent  by  every  congregation  favorable  to 
the  project 

Accordingly,  on  the  3ist  day  of  October,  1835,  messen- 
gers from  several  congregations  in  each  of  the  counties  of 
Fayette,  Woodford,  Jessamine,  and  Scott,  met  with  the 
congregation  of  Christ  at  Georgetown. 

From  the  contributions  reported,  and  the  cheering  pros- 
pects ahead,  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  make  provision 
for,  and  to  solicit  the  appointment  of,  four  highly  gifted 
Evangelists. 

It  was  thereupon  resolved,  that  John  Smith,  Jacob 
Creath,  jr.,  B.  F.  Hall,  and  J.  P.  Lancaster  were  suitable 
persons  to  be  engaged  in  so  noble  an  enterprise,  and  the 
congregations  of  which  they  were  members  were  recom- 
mended and  solicited  to  appoint  them  to  the  work  in  the 
field  of  labor  for  which  they  were  considered  so  well 
qualified. 

The  most  entire  confidence  and  unabated  affection  was 
expressed  for  the  two  former  Evangelists — Smith  and 
Rogers — and  it  was  even  a  matter  of  astonishment  that  so 
much  had  been  accomplished  by  them  on  so  large  a  theater. 
But  it  was  considered  that  the  former  system  was  very  in- 
efficient, and  had  fallen  short  of  achieving  the  most  desir- 
able results,  owing  to  the  vast  extent  of  the  field  of  labor, 
and  the  lack  of  a  regular  plan  of  operations  within  a  pre- 
scribed boundary. 

There  being,  as  was  thought,  prominent  defects,  it  was 
determined  that  the  field  of  their  labors  should  be  limited, 
primarily,  to  the  four  counties  formerly  named.  By  these 
means,  it  was  designed  to  make  a  fair  experiment  of  the 
success  and  transforming  power  of  the  Gospel  when  an- 
nounced, sustained,  illustrated,  and  exemplified  by  such 
able  and  efficient  Evangelists  and  teachers.  It  was  designed 
to  cultivate  this  field  of  labor  to  the  highest  point  of  per- 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

faction  of  which  it  was  susceptible  with  the  means  em- 
ployed, that,  independent  of  the  invaluable  local  blessings 
to  be  enjoyed  therefrom,  the  world  might  be  profited  to 
the  greatest  possible  extent  by  the  model  of  Christianity 
thus  presented.  It  was  hoped  that  the  liberality,  zeal,  and 
efficiency  of  the  congregations  thus  cooperating  would 
create  a  laudable  Christian  emulation  all  over  the  country. 

The  sacrifices  heretofore  made  by  the  Evangelists  and 
public  teachers  were  deeply  and  sensibly  felt  and  expressed ; 
and  it  was  resolved  to  awake  to  a  sense  of  duty — to  bear  a 
part  of  the  sacrifices,  and  to  share  some  of  the  honors  and 
joys  of  the  victory. 

It  was  resolved,  therefore,  that  not  less  than  $500  could, 
with  any  regard  to  the  circumstances  around  them,  be  ten- 
dered to  each  of  those  brethren.  Less  than  this  was  con- 
sidered as  falling  too  far  short  of  the  remuneration  proper 
to  be  made  for  such  great  sacrifices. 

The  congregations  contributing  were  requested  to  ap- 
point each  a  Treasurer,  to  take  charge  of  the  funds  con- 
tributed, whose  duty  it  should  be  to  transmit  the  same  to 
G.  W.  Elley,  the  General  Treasurer,  at  Lexington,  to  be 
paid  over  to  the  Evangelists  quarterly. 

John  Smith  was  urged  to  accept  the  call ;  and,  feeling 
deeply  the  importance  of  the  proposed  work  of  restoring 
the  ancient  order  in  the  congregations,  he  agreed  to  un- 
dertake it,  in  connection  with  the  others,  provided  the 
church  at  Mount  Sterling,  of  which  he  was  still  a  mem- 
ber, and  other  congregations,  would  release  him.  He 
was,  informed  that  his  compensation  would  be  not  less 
than  five  hundred  dollars ;  but,  as  he  had  incurred  some 
indebtedness  by  his  removal  *to  Owingsville,  a  certain 
wealthy  brother  privately  pledged  to  him,  on  his  own 
responsibility,  one  hundred  dollars  more. 

John  T.  Johnson  was  requested  by  the  committee  that 


PALSY.  537 

had  the  matter  in  hand  to  visit  Mount  Sterling,  and  ob- 
tain the  consent  of  that  church  to  the  proposed  arrange- 
ment. But  the  brethren,  believing  that  his  services  were 
needed  within  his  old  bounds,  declined  to  give  him  up, 
and  he,  accordingly,  refused  to  leave  them. 

Thus  obedient  to  the  wishes  of  his  brethren  in  Mont- 
gomery, he  devoted  himself,  for  the  year  1836,  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  churches  in  that  county,  in  Bath,  and  in  Clark, 
without  the  promise  of  any  specified  salary — trusting,  as 
he  had  formerly  done,  to  the  liberality  of  his  brethren  for 
a  support.  The  year  closed — he  had  neglected  his  own  af- 
fairs, and  toiled  faithfully  for  the  good  of  others  ;  Johnson, 
having  afterward  visited  some  of  those  churches,  describes 
them  as  being  animated  with  new  life  and  zeal;  and  yet 
their  faithful  teacher  received,  after  all,  but  little  that  year 
for  his  services. 

He  now  quietly  retired  to  his  farm,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  new  year,  donned  his  tow-linen  apron  again,  put 
in  with  his  own  hands  a  heavy  and  profitable  crop,  delved 
and  plowed  and  hewed  as  he  had  done  in  earlier  days, 
until  his  strong  nerves  were  shattered,  and  an  incurable 
palsy  began  to  shake  his  arms.  "When-  I  work  hard," 
writes  he,  in  1839,  "my  nerves  are  so  much  affected  that 
I  can  hardly  write  my  name.  I  have  no  doubt  that  I 
shall  be  completely  palsied,  in  a  few  years,  if  life  should 
last." 


S38  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER   XLVII. 

Richard  H.  Menifee — Political  excitement — Disaffections — Smith  at  Covington — • 
James  G.  Arnold — State  Meeting  at  Harrodsburg — Controversy  about  the 
Name — Interview  with  Scott  and  Johnson — Sketch  of  John  Smith  by  Walter 
Scott. 

JOHN  SMITH,  though  not  a  politician  in  any  sense  of 
the  term,  was  as  decided  in  his  political  as  in  his  relig- 
ious opinions,  and  as  frank  and  candid  in  expressing  them. 
Every  one,  in  fact,  knew  on  which  side  of  any  important 
question  to  place  him.  While  distinguished  for  prudence, 
he  was  incapable  of  any  timid  or  truckling  concealment. 
His  deliberate  judgments  belonged  to  the  public,  if  they 
chose  to  ask  for  them ;  and  he  declared  them  in  a  manner 
so  frank  and  kind  that  he  left  no  reasonable  ground  for 
misunderstanding  or  offense. 

In  1837,  a  ver7  exciting  political  contest  occurred  in  the 
Congressional  District  where  he  lived,  between  the  Hon. 
Richard  French  and  Richard  H.  Menifee,  then  in  the 
twenty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  This  distinguished  young 
orator  and  statesman  was  born  in  Owingsville,  in  the 
year  1 809.  Left  an  orphan  at  four  years  of  age,  he  strug- 
gled with  poverty  and  adverse  circumstances  till  the  age 
of  sixteen,  when  he  was  taken  to  Mount  Sterling  by  Ed- 
ward Stockton,  with  whose  assistance  he  was  enabled  to 
acquire  an  education.  Admitted  to  the  practice  of  the  law 


RICHARD  H.  MENIFEE.  539 

at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  was  at  once  appointed  Com- 
monwealth's Attorney  for  that  District,  and,  in  his  twenty- 
seventh  year,  was  returned  as  a  member  from  Montgomery 
to  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Kentucky.  In  1837, 
he  was  made  the  standard-bearer  for  the  Whig  party  in  the 
Congressional  campaign  for  that  year,  in  opposition  to 
Judge  French,  a  distinguished  Democrat.  Never  did  a 
career  of  greater  usefulness  and  splendor  dawn  upon  the. 
vision  of  any  young  man.  To  the  most  brilliant  gifts  of 
oratory,  he  added  the  loftiest  virtues  of  manly  and  heroic 
character.  The  history  of  his  boyhood — his  early  struggles 
for  knowledge,  his  spotless  honor,  and  extraordinary  tal- 
ents— early  won  the  heart  of  John  Smith,  who  loved 
him  with  almost  parental  fondness.  The  political  strife 
of  that  year  was  intensely  earnest.  As  the  day  for  the 
election  drew  nigh,  almost  every  other  interest  was  for- 
gotten. Quiet  neighbors  waxed  warm  with  disputations ; 
partisan  hurrahs  were  mingled  with  their  harvest  songs, 
and  political  wranglings  profaned,  on  Sunday,  the  very 
precincts  of  the  sanctuary.  The  brilliant  Menifee,  with 
his  boyish  face  and  delicate  form,  moved  like  a  meteor 
from  one  highland  barbecue  to  another,  and  the  mountains 
sent  up  their  shouts  of  enthusiasm  when  he  appeared. 
The  voice  of  the  people,  at  length,  prevailed,  and  the  pop- 
ular honors  rested  on  the  brow  of  the  young  statesman. 

Smith  could  not  have  been  an  indifferent  spectator  of 
that  remarkable  contest.  Sympathy  for  his  gifted  young 
friend  was  natural  and  proper,  and  would  alone  have  in- 
terested him  in  the  result.  But  he,  too,  was  a  Whig ;  and, 
though  his  brethren  were  divided  in  sentiment,  it  was  im- 
possible for  him  to  disfranchise  himself  on  that  account, 
and  to  hide  his  honest  sympathies  or  convictions  from  the 
world;  he  quietly,  but  promptly,  cast  his  suffrage  for  Mr. 
Menifee.  The  consequences  might  have  been  foreseen— 


540  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

they  probably  were  anticipated,  but  certainly  they  were 
not  regarded.  Some  took  offense,  and  declared  that  they 
would  hear  him  preach  no  more.  Disaffection  soon  sprang 
up  ;  misunderstandings  ensued  ;  other  occurrences,  miscon- 
ceived or  misinterpreted,  fomented  strife,  till  finally,  the 
peace  of  the  church  was  destroyed. 

Smith  was  necessarily  involved  in  these  dissensions,  and 
he  found  himself,  at  last,  in  direct  conflict  with  some  of  his 
brethren.  But  in  this,  as  in  every  other  controversy — and 
they  were  not  a  few — into  which  he  was  forced  by  duty  to 
himself  or  to  the  cause,  he  was  vindicated  by  his  brethren. 

We  may  here  mention  the  fact  that,  in  the  October  fol- 
lowing the  election  of  Mr.  Menifee,  a  son,  the  last  of  fif- 
teen children,  was  born  to  Elder  Smith,  and  he  at  once 
received  the  name  of  the  illustrious  young  Congressman. 

In  the  spring  of  1840,  Smith  received  a  pressing  invita- 
tion to  visit  the  city  of  Covington,  and,  if  possible,  to  re- 
suscitate the  cause  in  that  important  place.  James  G. 
Arnold,  who,  it  may  be  remembered,  first  met  Smith  in 
the  Bracken  Association  at  Wilson's  Run  in  1828,  had  been 
a  teacher  of  considerable  reputation  at  Washington,  and 
then  at  Maysville,  in  Mason  County.  Such  men  as  John 
Newton  Payne,  Buckner  H.  Payne,  the  Holtons,  and  others, 
whom  he  had  instructed,  bore  testimony  to  his  ability  as 
a  sound,  practical  educator  of  young  men.  From  Mays- 
ville, Arnold,  with  but  limited  means,  went  to  Covington, 
then  comparatively  a  village,  and  soon  afterward  began  to 
collect  together  the  few  scattered  Disciples  of  that  place, 
amounting,  perhaps,  to  about  forty-five  souls.  With  the 
aid  of  James  Challen  they  were  organized  into  a  church ; 
but  the  cholera  of  1833  destroyed  or  dispersed  the  little 
congregation,  and  the  cause  seemed  hopelessly  to  perish 
away.  But  in  March,  1840,  Arnold  resolved  to  make  an 
effort  to  revive  it.  He  fitted  up  his  own  tobacco  ware- 


CHURCH  AT  COVINGTON.  54! 

house,  near  the  first  Market-space,  for  the  accommodation 
of  an  audience,  appointed  a  day  for  meeting,  and  then  sent 
for  John  Smith  to  come  and  address  the  people.  He  accord- 
ingly went  down,  and,  finding  deism  in  great  strength,  spoke 
much  in  defense  of  the  simple  Gospel,  affirming  that  infi- 
delity is  often  but  the  rejection  of  sectarian  systems  of  re- 
ligion which  are  as  unreasonable  as  they  are  unscriptural. 
The  deists  themselves  came  to  hear  him,  and  showed  him 
every  mark  of  respect.  The  meeting  lasted  for  nearly  a 
week,  and  closed  with  fifteen  or  twenty  accessions. 

Arnold  at  once  determined  to  build  a  house  of  worship 
for  the  Disciples.  He  had  been  successful  in  business, 
after  his  removal  to  Covington ;  and  now,  without  asking 
a  subscription  from  any  person,  he  selected  a  lot  on  Third 
Street,  employed  laborers,  superintended  the  work,  and  paid 
for  it  all  in  silver  half  dollars  from  his  own  pocket.  The 
house  was  nearly  completed  in  1843,  when  John  T.  John- 
son, the  Evangelist,  with  John  Newton  Payne,  appeared 
and  consecrated  it  by  a  warm  and  successful  protracted 
meeting. 

In  the  following  May,  the  first  of  those  great  gatherings 
of  the  churches  called  State  meetings,  took  place  in  Har- 
rodsburg,  Mercer  County,  at  that  time  the  seat  of  Bacon 
College  ;  and  Smith,  though  much  pressed  by  business  at 
home,  set  out  for  that  place. 

Some  of  the  brethren  were  again  contending  that  the 
name  Christian  had  been  imposed  by  divine  authority — 
that  it  was  the  new  name  of  which  the  prophet  speaks, 
and  that  the  followers  of  Christ  should  always  be  called  by 
it.  Others  still  believed  that  it  was  either  given  by  enemies, 
or  assumed  by  the  early  disciples  themselves ;  and,  while 
they  did  not  object  to  wearing  it,  they  thought  that  the 
name  Disciples,  or  Saints,  or  Holy  Brethren,  was  just  as 
proper,  and  that,  in  fact,  these  names  might  be  used  indis- 


542  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

criminately.  Some,  in  their  zeal  for  the  name  Christian, 
had  gone  so  far  as  to  confer  it,  formally  and  publicly,  with 
some  ceremony,  on  young  converts  after  their  baptism. 
The  controversy  on  this  subject  had  ceased  to  be  profit- 
able, and,  in  the  opinion  of  many  good  brethren,  it  was 
doing  harm,  and  ought  to  be  dropped. 

When  Smith  reached  Georgetown,  on  his  way  to  Har- 
rodsburg,  he  found  that  Johnson  himself  had  prepared  an 
essay  on  the  subject  of  the  Name,  which  he  was  about  to 
send  to  the  papers  for  publication,  and  he  now  read  it  to 
Smith. 

"  If  Brother  Campbell  loves  you  one-half  as  much  as  I 
think  he  does,"  said  Smith,  on  hearing  it,  "he  will  cer- 
tainly not  do  you  the  injury  to  print  it." 

"  Brother  Scott,  I  know,  will  print  it,"  said  Johnson. 

"Yes,"  said  Smith;  "Walter,  too,  is  half  crazy  about 
this  matter  of  the  name,  and  he  will  print  it ;  but  you  ought 
not  to  send  it  to  him.  Brother  Campbell  has  dropped  the 
controversy  himself,  and  I  think  you  all  ought  to  quit. 
Rest  assured,  you  never  will,  by  all  your  writing,  induce 
any  one  who  understands  the  Book,  to  adopt  one  of  these 
names  to  the  exclusion  of  the  others ;  for  we  know  that, 
after  the  name  Christian  was  given  at  Antioch,  the  sacred 
writers,  speaking  of  the  brethren,  still  call  them  disciples ; 
and  no  matter  who  gave  the  other  name,  they  were  willing 
to  wear  it  and  to  suffer  under  it." 

At  Harrodsburg,  he  found  Walter  Scott,  and  he  soon 
expressed  a  desire  to  have  an  interview  with  him  and 
Johnson.  They  met  accordingly  at  a  private  house,  and, 
while  sitting  in  the  parlor,  with  a  number  of  brethren  and 
sisters  around  them,  Johnson  inquired  : 

"  Brother  Smith,  is  the  matter  about  which  you  wish  to 
talk  to  us  of  a  private  nature,  or  can  you  communicate  it 
before  these  brethren  ? " 


CONTROVERSY  ABOUT  THE  NAME.  543 

"  Nothing  that  I  wish  to  say,"  replied  Smith,  "  needs  be 
said  in  private." 

"  Proceed,  then,"  said  Johnson ;  and  all  present  gave  their 
attention. 

"  I  never  did  pretend,  brethren,  to  rank  myself  with  great 
men,  but  my  age  and  experience,  I  hope,  will  give  me  the 
privilege  of  expressing  my  opinion  for  the  advantage  of 
brethren  younger  than  myself.  This  controversy  about 
our  name  is  likely  to  get  up  a  party  feeling  among  the 
brethren,  and,  therefore,  it  ought  to  be  dropped.  Brother 
Campbell  has  quit  writing  about  it,  and  I  think  you  should 
all  do  the  same." 

"  Why,  Brother  Smith,"  said  Scott,  with  some  enthusiasm, 
"I  have  an  article  on  hand,  which  I  will  publish  next 
month,  proving  conclusively  that  God  never  acknowledges 
his  people,  or  their  works,  until  they  receive  their  right 
name." 

"  If  you  prove  that"  replied  Smith,  "you  will  kill  a  thing 
I  love  as  dearly  as  I  do  my  own  life." 

"  What  is  that,  Brother  John  ? " 

"The  name  Christian,"  replied  Smith. 

"How  will  we  do  that?" 

"You  learned  men  have  been  teaching  us  that  it  was 
some  ten  or  eleven  years  from  Pentecost  till  the  meeting 
at  Antioch.  Now,  will  you  indeed  prove  that  God  never 
owned  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  nor  the  ten  years'  preaching 
of  the  apostles,  nor  the  thousands  of  converts  they  had 
made,  till  the  time  of  that  meeting?  This,  surely,  you 
will  not  attempt  to  do.  But,  if  God  can  not  acknowledge 
his  children  until  they  have  the  right  name,  as  you  say — 
and  if,  however,  he  did  acknowledge  the  apostles  and  their 
works  before  the  Antioch  meeting — then  the  name  Disciple, 
by  which  they  had  previously  been  called,  is  the  right  one, 
and  that  of  Christian  is  gone  forever ! " 


544  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"  But,  Brother  John,"  replied  Scott,  "  only  one-half  of  the 
Christian  body  was  formed  within  that  period.  The  Church 
was  then  composed  of  Jewish  Christians  ;  but,  when  the 
other  half  was  added  from  the  Gentile  world,  the  whole 
received  its  right  name." 

"  Now,  just  think  of  it,  brethren ! "  Smith  rejoined.  "  The 
Church  of  Christ,  during  all  that  time,  with  its  thousands 
of  members,  and  the  apostles  at  their  head,  was  not  a  body, 
but  a  one-legged,  one-breasted,  one-armed,  one-eyed,  name- 
less thing,  waiting  for  its  fellow-half  to  get  a  name ! " 

"  Really,  that  won't  do,  Brother  John,"  said  Scott. 

"  No,  Walter ;  and  if  you  had  not  been  hypoed  in  some 
way,  you  would  have  seen  that  it  would  not  do." 

"  But,  Brother  Smith,"  asked  Scott,  "don't  you  and  your 
wife  give  your  children  names?" 

"Walter,"  replied  Smith,  "you  and  other  great  men  have 
been  writing  much  about  the  patronymic,  or  family,  name. 
Now,  Nancy  and  I  were  so  ignorant  that  we  thought  our 
children  were  all  born  Smiths — that  they  were  entitled  to 
this  patronymic  name  by  virtue  of  their  birth.  True,  we 
give  them  proper  names,  in  order  to  distinguish  them 
from  one  another ;  but  we  never  had  any  other  -idea  than 
that  they  were  all  Smiths  when  born.  Did  you  ever  quar- 
rel about  whether  your  children  should  receive,  by  inher- 
itance, your  own  family  name  ? " 

Scott  was  silent;  the  general  laugh  that  followed  re- 
lieved him  from  any  reply,  and  Smith  let  fly  another  shaft. 

"Walter,"  continued  he,  "you  recently  wrote  a  piece 
inviting  the  brethren  to  send  you  their  written  views  as 
to  the  time  when  it  was  proper  to  confer  the  name  Chris- 
tian. Now,  I  do  wish  that  some  school-girl  had  been 
at  your  elbow  when  you  thus  wrote,  and  told  you  that  it 
was  when  one  was  baptized  into  Christ,  and  thus  put  him 
on — being  born  into  the  Kingdom  and  the  Name,  when 


SKETCHED  BY  WALTER  SCOTT.  545 

born  of  water  and  the  Spirit ;  and  that  you  had  no  more 
right  or  authority  to  confer  it  by  a  subsequent  ceremony 
than  you  had  to  celebrate  the  Romish  mass. 

"  Suppose,"  Smith  still  persisted,  without  mercy,  "  that 
I  had  been  called  on  to  celebrate  the  rites  of  matrimony 
between  you  and  your  sister  wife,  and  that  I  had  duly 
married  you,  and  pronounced  you  man  and  wife ;  that,  in 
a  few  days  afterward,  I  had  returned,  and,  calling  your 
friends  together,  summoned  you  to  the  parlor,  and  in- 
formed our  sister  that  I  had  come  to  confer  upon  her 
her  new  name — that  it  was  now  proper  that  she  should 
take  upon  herself  your  name ;  would  she  not,  with  much 
surprise,  have  informed  me  that  she  had  already  acquired 
that  name  by  virtue  of  the  law  that  had  made  her  your 
wife,  and  that -she  would  continue  to  wear  it,  too,  as  long 
as  she  lived,  without  the  aid  of  any  of  my  pow- wowing  ? " 

It  may  be  added  that  the  articles  with  which  the  Church 
was,  at  that  time,  threatened,  never  made  their  appearance ; 
but  when  Scott  returned  home,  he  penned  and  published 
the  following  description  of  John  Smith : 

Quality  of  voice — guttural,  dry,  and  husky;  articulation — 
measured,  slow,  perfect;  enunciation — full;  emphasis — natural 
and  striking;  pause — irregular;  tone — drawling;  action — nerv- 
ous, indicating,  Down  with  the  enemy  /  language — always  sifting 
out  the  sense;  logic — sure,  sharp,  killing;  rhetoric — borrowed 
from  all  sources :  in  nature,  from  the  sun  down  to  the  spark 
of  a  firefly;  in  society,  from  the  king  to  the  beggar;  in  art,  from 
the  sublimest  to  the  meanest  of  human  fabrications;  and,  in  re- 
ligion, every  thing;  eloquence — sparkling,  shrewd,  and  border- 
ing sometimes  on  the  indescribable.  But  let  a  man  take  care 
how  he  resigns  himself  to  Smith's  wit.  It  is  used  as  some  dan- 
gerous animals  use  their  feelers — simply  to  ascertain  where  the 
prey  lies :  when  that  is  done,  the  wit  is  ended,  and  then  woe 
betide  the  man  that  smiled ;  he  must  die  the  death. 
46 


546  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER    XLVIII. 

Smith  at  Madison,  Ind. — Exordiums — Impressiveness — Illustrations — Universal 
Damnation — Mission  to  St.  Louis — Campbell  and  Rice  Debate — Sad  Bereave- 
ment— Moves  to  Mount  Sterling — Trouble  in  the  Churches — Peace  Restored 
— Removes  to  Georgetown — Recalled  to  Preach  at  Somerset  and  Mount 
Sterling. 

ELDER  SMITH,  while  carrying  on  his  farm  near  Owings- 
ville,  was  by  no  means  inactive,  either  as  a  teacher  or  an 
Evangelist.  He  continued  to  visit  the  churches  at  Somer- 
set, Spencer,  Sharpsburg,  North  Middletown,  Bethlehem, 
which  he  had  organized  in  1833,  and  other  places  in  that 
portion  of  the  State.  He  was  often  away,  too,  on  distant 
preaching  tours,  now  laboring  again  with  Rogers  in  Nich- 
olas and  Fleming,  now  with  the  indefatigable  Johnson,  who 
was  every- where,  and  now  operating  alone,  as  the  frequent 
calls  of  the  brethren,  or  his  own  zealous  impulses,  deter- 
mined him.  Occasionally  he  would  appear  unexpectedly 
income  distant  place,  where,  though  personally  unknown, 
his  fame  had  already  preceded  him. 

During  one  of  his  tours,  perhaps  in  the  summer  of  1840, 
he  appeared  at  Madison,  in  Indiana,  late  one  afternoon. 
Being  a  stranger,  he  called  on  one  of  the  elders  of  the  con- 
gregation, and  introduced  himself. 

The  few  brethren  that  could  be  seen,  were  at  once  noti- 
fied, and  the  chapel  was  lighted  up.  The  weather  was 
warm  and  the  evenings  short ;  and  upon  such  a  notice,  not 


STYLE  OF  PREACHING.  547 

more  than  twenty-five  or  thirty  came  together.  He  began 
his  discourse  by  saying: 

"  I  am  rather  a  singular  sort  of  man,  my  brethren  ;  at 
least,  I  am  generally  so  regarded.  One  thing  in  which  I 
differ  from  most  other  preachers  is,  that  on  occasions  like 
this,  when  very  few  come  out,  I  preach  my  very  best  ser- 
mons ;  whereas  others  keep  theirs  back  for  big  meetings, 
associations,  and  the  like.  This,  I  think,  is  not  right ;  I 
always  preach  as  well  as  I  can.  And  now,  if  you  will  give 
me  your  attention,  I  think  I  can  promise  you  something 
worth  hearing.  I  hope  that  none  of  you  will  go  to  sleep ; 
for,  if  you  do,  the  number  left  awake  will  be  very  small 
indeed." 

He  read  a  portion  of  Eph.  iii.  "And  he  fulfilled  his 
promise,"  says  Elder  F.  W.  Emmons,  who  was  present. 
"  Never  did  I  listen  to  a  discourse  that  interested  me  more. 
I  remember  the  doctrine,  and  the  impression  its  presen- 
tation then  made  upon  my  mind  is  vivid  still."* 

Smith's  exordiums  were  often  enlivened  with  some  little 
pleasantry,  that  seldom  failed  to  win  the  attention  of  the 
listless  to  his  more  serious  discourse.  It  was  the  unstud- 
ied play  of  nature,  however,  rather  than  any  art  of  the 
orator.  His  mind  seemed  like  a  giant  in  repose,  till,  by  a 
little  quaint  humor,  he  had  brought  his  audience  within  his 
reach,  and  then,  whether  he  reasoned  or  exhorted,  the 
speaker  had  his  will.  • . 

Other  preachers  of  the  day  may  have  surpassed  him  in 
fervid  or  imaginative  oratory,  but  none  equaled  him  in 
that  wonderful  impressiveness  which  leaves  a  doctrine  in 
the  mind  and  heart  forever. 

"  Thirty-five  years  ago,"  says  one,  "  I  heard  him  preach 
in  a  cabin  near  Monticello.  I  was  then  a  boy,  but  I  could 


1865. 


548  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

not  keep  from  listening ;  and  to-day,  I  distinctly  remember 
that  sermon — the  text,  the  doctrine,  and  the  arrangement. 
No  recent  discourse  is  so  vivid  in  my  mind." 

"  He  was  preaching  once  at  Walnut  Flats,  near  Stan- 
ford," says  another,  "when  I  was  a  youth,  and  living  in 
that  village.  Hearing  that  there  would  be  a  gathering  at 
the  Flats  on  Sunday,  I  went  out  with  some  other  young 
persons  for  amusement.  The  day  was  very  warm,  and  the 
house  and  woods  around  were  full  of  people.  After  loiter- 
ing awhile,  I  went  in  from  idle  curiosity,  but  could  get  no 
further  than  just  within  the  door.  Observing  the  preacher, 
whom  I  did  not  know,  for  I  had  never  seen  John  Smith,  I 
concluded,  from  his  appearance,  that  it  would  not  be  worth 
the  while  to  stand  and  listen  to  him.  He  had  rode  some 
distance  that  morning,  and,  on  account  of  the  heat,  had 
pulled  off  his  coat,  and  carried  it  on  his  arm.  He  had  en- 
tered the  house  and  the  pulpit  in  that  guise  ;  his  shirt  collar 
was  unbuttoned,  and  lay  open  around  his  neck ;  and  thus 
he  sat  waiting  for  the  hour  to  arrive.  In  a  few  minutes 
he  arose,  buttoned  and  carefully  adjusted  his  collar,  put  on 
his  coat,  and  at  once  assumed  the  air  of  a  grave,  earnest, 
and  thoughtful  man.  He  began  by  saying :  '  Doubtless 
many  of  you  will  be  much  disappointed  to-day,  as  I  un- 
derstand that  Elder  Thomas  Smith  was  expected  to  speak. 
I  am  not  that  learned  and  excellent  man  of  Lexington, 
but  simply  John  Smith,  or,  if  you  will  understand  me  any 
better,  Raccoon  John  Smith,  of  Montgomery!  I  felt  at 
once  drawn  to  the  man ;  I  was  fixed  to  the  spot  where  I 
stood ;  and  in  spite  of  myself,  I  listened  to  him  for  two 
hours  and  a  half." ' 

"The  first  time  that  I  ever  heard  John  Smith  preach/' 
says  Aylett  Raines,  "was  at  Mayslick,  I  think,  in  1830 — 
forty  years  ago.  His  text  was  j  Cor.  x.  It  was  a  pow- 
erful discourse.  His  introduction  was  characteristic  of 


EXORDIUMS.  549 

the  man.  '  I  expect,'  said  he,  '  to  deliver  a  sermon  to-day 
that  will  please  every  body — though  if  any  shall  be  dis- 
pleased, I  suppose  it  will  be  my  own  brethren :  for  if  I 
should  say  any  thing  which,  according  to  the  usual  laws  of 
interpretation,  the  sects  might  not  believe,  let  them  take 
the  same  liberty  with  my  words  that  they  do  with  those 
of  Christ  and  his  apostles— let  them  say  that  Brother 
John  do  n't  mean  what  he  says,  and  then  they  may  make 
my  words  mean  just  what  they  like,  and,  of  course,  can't 
be  displeased.' " 

While  preaching  regularly  for  the  church  at  Bethlehem, 
in  Clark  County,  a  Universalist  began  to  disturb  the  peo- 
ple. So  many,  in  fact,  seemed  to  be  carried  away  with 
his  doctrine  that  he  talked  at  last  of  constituting  a  church 
there.  Smith,  having  declared,  on  one  occasion,  that,  by 
the  mode  of  reasoning  which  the  Universalists  employed, 
he  could  prove  that  all  men  would  be  damned,  was  pressed 
to  make  good  his  assertion. 

"  You  will  never  undertake  to  do  that,"  said  a  Univers- 
alist 

He  accordingly  announced  that,  on  his  next  visit  to 
Bethlehem,  he  would  preach  on  Universal  Damnation. 
When  the  time  came,  an  immense  crowd  assembled;  for 
the  singular  promise  had  been  published  far  and  near 
among  the  people.  On  rising,  he  remarked: 

"I  am  going  to  deliver  a  discourse  to-day,  brethren, 
which  the  Lord  knows,  and  you  know,  I  do  not  believe 
one  word  of;  but,  to  expose  the  absurdity  of  a  doctrine 
which  you  have  been  hearing,  I  will  show  that,  applying 
the  Universalist's  mode  of  interpretation,  all  men,  with- 
out exception,  will  be  damned.  And  what  if  I  should 
succeed  in  proving  that  the  devil  will  get  the  last  one  of 
you  ?  I  fear  it  is  nothing  more  than  you  all  richly  de- 
serve, anyhow." 


550  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

He  then  laid  down  a  copy  of  Pingree's  "Defense  of 
Universalism "  on  the  desk,  and,  beside  it,  his  own  manu- 
script— the  first  and  only  discourse  that  he  ever  wrote — 
and  he  proceeded  to  demonstrate  at  every  point  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  logic  of  the  author,  the  Scriptures  consign 
all  men  to  perdition. 

"And  now,"  said  he,  in  conclusion,  "if  you  will  give 
me  your  attention  thirty  minutes  longer,  I  will  prove  to 
you  that  neither  Mr.  Pingree  nor  myself  have  told  you 
the  truth." 

This  discourse  saved  the  church  from  Universalism. 
That  doctrine  was,  in  the  estimation  of  the  people,  suc- 
cessfully confuted,  and  the  preacher  that  had  disturbed 
their  orthodoxy  retired,  and  left  the  field  to  Smith. 

"  Doctor,"  said  he  to  a  brother,  not  long  afterward,  "  I 
preached  a  very  singular  discourse  the  other  day.  Not 
a  man  that  heard  it  believed  one  word  I  said ;  I  did  not 
believe  it  myself;  nor  is  it  believed  in  heaven,  earth,  or 
hell;  for  there  was  not  a  particle  of  truth  in  it.  But, 
what  is  stranger  still,  I  never  preached  a  sermon  in  my 
life  that  did  more  good  ! " 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1843,  John  T.  Johnson  vis- 
ited Owingsville  and  Sharpsburg,  and,  assisted  by  Smith, 
held  very  successful  meetings  at  those  places ;  and  the 
two  congregations,  feeling  their  responsibility  as  bodies 
organized  for  the  support  and  propagation  of  the  Gospel, 
combined  their  means,  and  agreed  to  sustain  John  Smith 
as  their  Evangelist.  In  the  meantime,  the  brethren  at 
Georgetown,  Dry  Run,  Leesburg,  and  Old  Union,  appre- 
ciating the  importance  of  a  mission  to  St.  Louis,  made 
their  arrangements,  and  solicited  Smith  and  Johnson  to 
visit  that  place ;  and,  accordingly,  on  the  twenty-third  of 
April,  they  appeared  there  unexpectedly  among  the  breth- 
ren. They  labored  eight  days,  with  but  little  apparent 


SAD  BEREA  VEMENT.  551 

success.  Smith  took  an  excursion  into  Illinois  before  re- 
turning home,  while  Johnson  remained  two  weeks  longer 
on  the  field.  About  thirty-five  accessions  were  gained 
before  he  finally  departed. 

In  the  fall  of  that  year,  the  debate  between  Alexander 
Campbell  and  the  Rev.  N.  L.  Rice  took  place,  in  Lexing- 
ton. It  was  conducted  in  the  presence  of  Dr.  Fishback, 
President  Shannon,  John  Smith,  and  Aylett  Raines,  on 
the  part  of  the  Reformation,  and  four  others  on  the  part 
of  Presbyterianism — the  Hon.  Henry  Clay  being  president 
of  the  board.  The  discussion  began  on  the  I5th  of  No- 
vember. 

On  that  day,  John  Smith,  who  had  left  home  some  time 
before,  was  summoned  back  by  a  message  like  that  which 
came  to  him  one  morning  at  dawn,  when  he  was  away 
from  home,  among  his  father's  friends,  in  Alabama. 

On  the  day  before,  while  some  meft  were  engaged  in 
slaughtering  his  hogs,  his  youngest  son,  then  in  the  seventh 
year  of  his  age,  the  darling  of  the  household — his  little 
Menifee — came  in  from  school,  and,  with  childish  curiosity, 
hurried  to  the  spot  where  the  work  was  going  on.  Some 
one  having  called  for  a  hoe,  Richard  ran  -to  get  it.  It 
was  lying  across  the  top  of  a  hogshead  filled  with  boiling 
water,  over  which  a  blanket  had  been  spread.  He  climbed 
up  quickly,  and,  the  blanket  giving  way,  he  fell  head- 
long into  the  scalding  water.  He  was  taken  out  imme- 
diately, but  too  late.  He  lived  but  eight  hours,  through 
sufferings  too  heart-rending  for  description,  and  then  ex- 
pired. 

The  unfortunate  father  set  out  at  once  on  horseback  for 
his  home,  sustained  along  his  wretched  journey  of  forty 
or  fifty  miles  by  the  hope  that  his  darling  would  recover, 
or  that  at  least  he  would  see  again  the  little  sufferer  before 
he  died. 


552  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"I  remember  well,"  his  daughter*  writes,  "how  my 
father  looked  that  day,  when  he  reached  home,  weary  and 
worn  almost  to  exhaustion,  but  with  hope  beaming  in  his 
eye.  When  told  that  his  boy,  the  pride  of  his  old  age,  was 
no  more,  he  dropped  down  in  the  doorway  apparently 
lifeless.  The  fatigue  of  his  hurried  journey  and  the  shock 
of  Richard's  death  were  too  much  for  him ;  he  was  unable 
to  get  to  his  room  till  we  applied  such  restoratives  as  his 
case  required." 

In  October,  1849,  Smith,  now  in  the  sixty-sixth  year  of 
his  age,  incapable  at  times  of  any  sort  of  manual  labor  by 
reason  of  his  increasing  palsy,  his  older  surviving  children 
all  married  or  scattered  abroad,  and  the  cherished  boy  that 
had  been  at  once  the  pride  and  the  hope  of  his  declining 
years  taken  away,  disposed  of  his  farm,  and,  with  the  con- 
currence of  his  wife,  removed  to  Mount  Sterling,  with  their 
two  youngest  daughters,  Emma  and  Mary,  to  spend  there 
the  rest  of  his  days  in  peace.  He  bought  a  pleasant  home 
just  within  the  limits  of  the  town,  and,  dividing  one-half 
of  his  time  between  the  church  in  that  place  and  his  be- 
loved Somerset,  he  devoted  the  remainder  to  such  labors 
of  love  as  the  wants  of  the  brethren  abroad  seemed  -  to 
require. 

He  had  enjoyed  this  happy  repose  from  worldly  care  but 
a  short  time  when  a  preacher,  almost  entirely  unknown  in 
that  community,  appeared,  and,  greatly  pleasing  a  number 
of  the  brethren,  was  called  to  preach  to  the  congregation 
one  Sunday  in  each  month.  But  soon  the  peace  of  the 
church  was  destroyed  by  his  indiscretions.  The  distant 
congregation  of  which  he  was  a  member  having  arraigned 
him  on  account  of  some  reported  improprieties,  and,  sub- 
sequently, having  excluded  him  for  alleged  indiscretions 


Mrs.  Emma  S.  Ringo,  of  Missouri. 


TR 0 UBLES  AT  MO UNT  STERLING.  553 

at  Mount  Sterling,  dissensions  arose  that  threatened  to 
ruin  the  cause  in  several  places. 

Smith  withdrew  his  services,  as  a  preacher,  from  the  con- 
gregation at  Mount  Sterling,  and,  not  long  afterward,  he 
was  constrained,  by  a  sense  of  duty  to  himself  and  to  the 
cause,  to  remove  his  membership  also.  Other  prominent 
brethren  withdrew  at  the  same  time,  and  the  church  was 
left  to  stand  or  to  fall  with  the  new  preacher  whom  they 
seemed  determined,  if  possible,  to  vindicate. 

A  cruel  assault  was  now  made  upon  Elder  Smith.  Some 
charged  him  with  jealous  efforts  to  ruin  a  persecuted  man ; 
others,  misled  by  misrepresentations,  or  inflamed  by  soph- 
istries, pursued  him  with  ungrateful  animosity. 

The  brotherhood  generally  looked  -on  these  proceedings 
with  surprise.  Finally,  however,  their  judgment  found  ut- 
terance through  committees  properly  called  together — one 
at  Mayslick,  from  certain  churches  in  Mason  and  Fleming 
and  Bracken ;  and  another  at  Somerset,  from  certain 
churches  in  Bourbon  and  Clark  and  Bath.  These  tribu- 
nals patiently  investigated  the  facts  in  the  case,  and 
their  decisions,  though  made  in  reference  to  different  points 
of  the  controversy,  sufficiently  vindicated  those  who  had 
fallen  under  the  hasty  censures  of  the  church,  and  confirmed 
the  sentence  of  wrong-doing  against  him  who  had  led  so 
many  good  brethren  and  sisters  into  error. 

Finally,  after  eighteen  months  of  estrangement,  John  T. 
Johnson  and  William  Morton  visited  Mount  Sterling  and 
brought  about  peace  and  reconciliation. 

At  the  very  time  that  the  brethren  were  thus  so  happily 
reconciled  at  Mount  Sterling,  he  who  had  been  the  occasion 
of  their  grievous  dissensions,  having  wandered  southward 
into  Stockton's  Valley,  where  every  grove  and  cabin  chron- 
icled some  good  deed  of  John  Smith,  publicly  renounced 
the  Reformation  and  became  a  Baptist,  telling  his  Calvin- 
47 


554  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

istic  brethren  at  the  time  that  his  heart  had  been  with 
them  for  a  year ! 

In  the  meantime,  a  month  or  two  before  the  visit  of 
Johnson  and  Morton  to  Mount  Sterling,  the  venerable 
Smith,  robbed  of  the  beautiful  hope  that  he  would  live  out 
his  patriarchal  days  among  a  people  whom  he  loved  as  his 
children,  now  turned  away  from  the  scene  of  his  earliest 
and  noblest  struggles,  and  with  a  heavy  distress  upon  his 
heart,  went  to  live  in  Georgetown,  near  the  beloved  John- 
son, where  the  spirit  of  Stone  still  breathed  its  peaceful 
influence  on  the  people  and  the  church.  Having  sold  his 
pleasant  cottage  and  grounds  in  Mount  Sterling,  he  pur- 
chased property  in  Georgetown,  and  removed  to  that  place 
with  his  family  in  October,  1851. 

It  was  not  the  least  of  the  afflictions  of  this  faithful  man 
of  God  that,  in  removing  from  his  old  field  of  labor,  he 
would  have  to  withdraw  his  services  from  the  church  at 
Somerset.  He  had  preached  there  regularly  on  the  third 
Lord's  day  in  each  month  since  the  year  1829 ;  and,  indeed, 
previously  to  that  time,  from  1817,  he  had  taught  them 
and  their  fathers  at  old  Grassy  Lick.  To  leave  them  now 
was  like  the  abandonment  of  his  own  children.  They,  too, 
felt  their  orphanage  when  he  departed ;  for  two  years  had 
hardly  passed  when  troubles  arose,  and  they  sent  to  beg 
him  to  return. 

The  church  at  Mount  Sterling,  also  missing,  in  time, 
his  wise  counsels,  finally,  for  the  sake  of  the  cause,  urged 
him  to  preach  to  them  again ;  and  the  venerable  father, 
forgetting  the  recent  past,  in  the  love  of  earlier  years,  held 
a  successful  meeting  there  in  1854,  and  afterward  preached 
to  them  occasionally  as  before.  The  spirit  of  peace  re- 
turned, and,  from  that  time,  the  church  grew  in  numbers 
and  in  influence. 


ELDER  AT  GEORGETOWN.  555 


CHAPTER    XLIX. 

At  Georgetown — Tours — In  Missouri — Anecdotes — His  Loyalty. 

SOON  after  his  removal  to  Georgetown,  Smith  was  chos- 
en Elder  of  the  church,  and  by  word  and  example,  in  pub- 
lic and  in  private,  he  continued  to  edify  the  brethren,  to 
maintain  the  ancient  customs  in  the  church,  and  to  com- 
mend the  cause  that  he  so  much  loved,  to  the  world 
around  him.  The  years  passed  pleasantly  by ;  and  while 
the  field  of  his  labors  was  more  and  more  contracted  by 
reason  of  his  infirmities,  his  zeal  burned  on,  and  his  use- 
fulness was  as  great  as  ever.  Whether  warning  young  dis- 
ciples against  the  fascinations  of  the  dance  and  other  pop- 
ular amusements,  or  discouraging  all  departures  from  the 
Ancient  Order  in  the  public  assemblies,  he  was  the  same 
prudent  but  resolute  opposer  of  every  thing  that  he  believed 
to  be  unfavorable  to  a  pure,  spiritual  life  and  worship  among 
the  children  of  God. 

He  sometimes  forgot  or  disregarded  his  bodily  infirmi- 
ties. Though  palsied  to  such  a  degree  that  he  had  to  be 
fed  like  a  child,  he  would  frequently  ask  the  family  to  pack 
his  portmanteau  for  a  journey,  and,  taking  a  servant-boy 
as  his  only  companion,  he  would  make  short  tours  among 
his  old  friends,  or  their  children,  who  always  greeted  his 
coming  with  delight.  In  1857,  he  presided  at  Ghent  as  a 
Moderator  in  the  discussion  between  Benjamin  Franklin 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

and  the  Rev.  T.  J.  Fisher,  and  in  September,  1858,  he  sat 
among  the  brethren  of  Missouri  in  their  State  Meeting  at 
Columbia.  It  was  on  that  occasion  that  he  was  pressed 
by  Elder  Daniel  Bates  and  others  to  prepare  an  autobiog- 
raphy for  the  press  before  he  should  be  called  hence  to  re- 
ceive the  reward  of  his  labors. 

"  I  have  never  aspired  to  any  notoriety,  my  brethren," 
said  he,  in  reply.  "  My  only  object,  through  all  my  public 
life,  has  been  to  do  all  the  good  I  could,  without  the  least 
craving  after  what  the  world  calls  fame." 

They  continued,  however,  to  urge  it  upon  him  as  a  duty, 
and  he  promised  at  last  to  take  the  matter  under  consider- 
ation. At  their  suggestion,  other  brethren  afterwards 
wrote  to  him,  and  affectionately  pressed  the  subject  upon 
his  attention. 

In  1860,  he  was  again  in  Missouri,  and  was  present  at  a 
debate  in  Brunswick,  between  Elder  Moses  E.  Lard  and 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Caples.  An  incident  is  related  as  having  oc- 
curred on  that  occasion,  which  shows  that  nearly  eighty 
winters  had  not  chilled  the  ever-flowing  vein  of  humor  that 
had  freshened  and  sparkled  through  the  years  of  his  vig- 
orous manhood. 

It  was,  perhaps,  just  after  the  close  of  some  morning 
discussion,  that  he  remarked  to  the  brethren,  who  were 
standing  around  the  rostrum,  that  he  had  concluded  to 
start  home  next  day.  Mr.  Caples,  who  was  near  by  at  the 
time,  gathering  up  his  books  and  papers,  and  who  was  him- 
self a  reputed  wit,  reached  over  and  touched  the  venerable 
man,  saying: 

"Mr.  Smith,  don't  leave  until  this  debate  is  over,  for  I 
want  to  take  a  'coon  hunt  with  you." 

"That  would  just  suit  me,"  replied  Smith,  putting  his 
palsied  hand  on  Caples's  shoulder,  "for  when  I  go  a  'coon 
hunting,  I  always  like  to  have  a  good  dog  along." 


ANECDOTES.  557 

Mr.  Caples  stepped  back,  bowed  politely,  and,  taking  off 
his  hat,  handed  it  to  him,  saying: 

"  You  can  take  my  hat,  sir." 

The  old  man,  recognizing  the  well-known  military  prin- 
ciple, that  "  to  the  victor  belong  the  spoils,"  took  the  hat 
and  started  off  the  field  with  it,  amid  the  laughter  of  the 
company ;  but,  after  passing  almost  out  of  the  crowd,  he 
turned  and  brought  it  back. 

"  Take  your  hat,  Mr.  Caples ;  it 's  of  no  use  to  me,  and 
your  head  will  need  all  the  protection  it  can  get  before  this 
debate  is  over." 

"I  thought,  Brother  Smith,"  said  Aylett  Raines  to  him 
one  evening,  seeing  him  rather  indifferent  to  a  shower  of 
rain  that  was  falling  upon  him,  "I  thought  that  you  im- 
mersionists  did  not  like  sprinkling." 

"  Ah !  Aylett,"  said  he,  "  that  was  one  of  the  times  you 
were  mistaken.  With  me,  it  depends  altogether  on  the 
administrator.  When  it  comes  from  Heaven,  I  like  it 
very  well,  but,  from  the  fingers  of  a  priest,  /  despise  it." 

When  the  rebellion  broke  out,  John,  Smith  occupied  no 
ambiguous  position  toward  it.  He  was  politically  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Union,  and  religiously  loyal  to  the 
Government.  Discussing  the  question  of  secession,  in 
1 86 1,  with  a  prominent  politician  of  Kentucky,  he  met  the 
arguments  of  his  opponent  with  so  much  candor  and  pow- 
er, that  the  latter,  dropping  the  question  of  State  rights, 
demanded : 

"  You  certainly  will  not  deny  that  it  is  to  the  interest  of 
Kentucky  to  go  with  the  South  ? " 

"  I  never  look  for  interest"  said  he,  "  where  no  principle 
is  invested." 

On  his  way  to  his  residence  one  evening,  while  a  party 
of  troops  held  the  town,  and  a  guard  was  placed  at  every 
street,  a  soldier  in  gray  halted  him,  and  demanded  his  pass. 


55 8  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

"What  is  it  that  you  want?"  said  Smith,  not  exactly 
comprehending  the  situation  at  the  moment. 

"Have  you  got  a. pass?"  asked  the  guard. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Smith. 

"  Out  with  it,  then,"  said  the  soldier. 

Smith  stepped  toward  him,  and,  raising  his  shriveled 
fist,  shook  it  at  the  stalwart  soldier,  saying: 

"This  is  my  pass,  sir!" 

"Get  along,  old  man,"  said  the  soldier,  laughing,  as  he 
shouldered  his  musket,  and  marched  away  on  his  beat. 


DEATH  OF  MRS.  SMITH.  559 


CHAPTER    L. 

Death  of  Mrs.  Smith — Removal  to  Owingsville — The  Missouri  Oath  of  Loyalty — 
Goes  to  Missouri — Indicted  for  Preaching — Persuaded  to  give  Bond — Returns 
to  Kentucky — At  Ashland — Impressive  Conversation — Last  Night  in  Ken- 
tucky— Labors  in  Missouri — Letter  of  Elder  Wright — Tries  the  Spirits. 

ON  the  4th  of  November,  1861,  Nancy  Smith,  one  of  the 
best  of  wives  and  mothers,  died,  in  Georgetown,  and  was 
laid  to  rest  by  the  grave  of  her  son,  JAMES  HARVEY,  in  the 
beautiful  cemetery  at  Lexington. 

The  incidents  in  the  life  of  this  good  woman  are  domes- 
tic ;  they  belong  to  her  family — to  her  children,  and  her 
children's  children.  Necessity  early  circumscribed  the 
sphere  of  her  activities,  where,  through  all  her  life,  she 
displayed  the  most  eminent  of  womanly  virtues.  To  a 
sound  judgment,  untiring  energy,  and  great  force  of  char- 
acter, she  added  an  earnest  but  noiseless  piety.  She  had  a 
heart  that  was  kind  and  patient,  almost  to  a  fault ;  a  man- 
ner, at  all  times,  and  in  every  place,  the  most  artless  and 
unobtrusive.  She  was  guileless  of  speech,  plain,  and  with- 
out ostentation.  She  affected  no  modern  tastes  or  preju- 
dices, but  lived  and  died  an  exemplary  matron  of  the  olden 
times.  She  was  frugal  and  provident,  and,  in  all  her  domes- 
tic arrangements,  scrupulously  neat,  orderly,  and  Quaker- 
like.  She  lived  for  her  husband  and  her  children ;  to  them, 
under  God,  she  consecrated  her  life;  and  in  that  devotion 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

consisted  her  happiness  and  her  usefulness.  But  for  her 
noble  self-sacrifice,  perhaps  the  labors  of  her  husband  would 
have  been  lost  to  the  church :  it  was  through  her  heroic, 
but  unrecorded  struggles  with  poverty  and  care,  that  he 
was  at  last  known  in  the  gates,  when  he  sat  among  the 
elders  of  the  land. 

She  was  the  mother  of  eleven  children  —  only  five  of 
whom  survived  her.  ELIZA  BAIZE,  her  first-born,  died  in 
1819;  WILLIAM  PINCKNEY,  in  1824;  JOSHUA  CARROLL,  in 
1827;  RICHARD  MENIFEE,  in  1843;  JOHN  DUKE,  in  1846, 
ELIZA  ANN  FREEMAN,  in  1856;  and  JAMES  HARVEY,  in 
1859. 

The  story  of  her  life  would  be  beautiful  if  told ;  but  it 
is  sacred.  Other  than  human  pen  has  kept  record  of  her 
deeds  of  love,  her  sacrifices,  and  her  toils ;  and  in  that  day 
when  the  books  shall  be  opened,  and  the  small  and  the  great 
of  earth  shall  stand  together,  no  fairer  page  will  be  unrolled 
and  read  than  that  which  bears  the  humble  name  of  NANCY 
SMITH. 

After  the  death  of  his  wife,  Elder  Smith  went  to  live  with 
his  daughter,  Mrs.  MARIA  M.  LEE,  of  Owingsville — spend- 
ing much  of  his  time,  however,  with  his  younger  daughter, 
Mrs.  EMMA  S.  RINGO,  of  Mexico,  Audrain  County,  Mis- 
souri. Some  months,  also,  he  now  passed  at  the  Daugh- 
ters' College,  near  Harrodsburg,  Kentucky,  where  he  de 
tailed  to  the  writer  many  of  the  reminiscences  of  his  long 
and  eventful  life.  But,  whether  in  Kentucky  or  Missouri, 
he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  still  pleading  for  the 
Ancient  Gospel,  and  for  the  liberty  of  the  children  of 
God. 

In  the  fall  of  1865,  while  preparing  to  spend  the  winter 
in  Missouri,  he  received  a  copy  of  the  new  Constitution 
of  that  distracted  commonwealth.  After  reading  the  oath 
required  to  be  taken  as  a  condition  precedent  to  the  exer- 


THE  "OATH  OF  LOTALTT."  561 

cise  of  the  functions  of  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  his  son- 
in-law,  Mr.  Lee,  inquired : 

"Father,  can  you  take  that  oath?" 

"  No,  I  can  not,"  said  he,  with  much  emphasis. 

"Then  you  must  not  go  to  Missouri:  you  will  get  into 
difficulty ;  and  you  are  now  too  old  to  be  troubled." 

"No,"  said  he;  "I  am  just  at  the  right  age,  for  my  days 
are  few,  and  I  can  not  be  troubled  long." 

Others  tried  to  dissuade  him  from  going,  but  in  vain ; 
he  felt  that  it  was  his  duty  to  go  to  his  children,  and  he 
went,  fixed  in  the  determination  to  do  what  was  right  in 
the  sight  of  God,  and  leave  the  consequences  to  him. 

It  had  of  late  been  his  habit  to  speak  of  his  preaching  as 
only  talking,  and,  when  he  reached  Mexico,  he  announced 
that  he  would  talk  to  the  people  on  the  next  Lord's  day. 
Some  took  advantage  of  his  language,  and,  wholly  ignorant 
of  his  character,  said  he  would  evade  the  law.  Having 
heard  of  it,  he  entered  the  pulpit,  on  Lord's  day,  and  be- 
gan his  discourse  by  remarking : 

"Last  winter,  when  I  was  with  you,  I  sat  down  and 
talked ;  to-day  I  will  stand  up  and  preach'1 

He  continued  thus  preaching,  every  Lord's  day,  until 
the  following  April,  at  which  time  the  spring  term  of  the 
circuit  court  was  held  in  Mexico.  Having  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  the  judge,  and  found  him  to  be  a  pleasant 
and  very  intelligent  gentleman,  he  said  to  him,  one  day : 

"Judge,  you  have  doubtless  heard  that  I  have  been 
preaching  here  without  taking  the  oath  required  by  the 
constitution  of  the  State." 

"  I  have  heard  of  it,  Mr.  Smith,  and  I  think  it  a  little 
strange,  for  I  understand  that  you  have  always  been  a 
Union  man,  and  a  truly  loyal  one." 

"  I  have  always  been  such,"  said  Smith ;  "  and,  so  far 
as  the  politics  of  the  oath  are  concerned,  I  can  take  it 


$62  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

with  as  clear  a  conscience  as  any  man  in  Missouri ;  but 
it  involves  other  principles,  that  conflict  with  my  con- 
science. I  know  it  may  be  said  that  I  am  not  to  judge 
of  the  constitutionality  of  a  law ;  but  I  am  compelled  to 
decide  in  this  matter — not  as  setting  a  law  aside,  or  de- 
claring it  null  and  void,  but  as  a  question  of  private  con- 
science. I  regard  the  new  constitution  as  the  first  bold 
attempt  that  infidelity  has  ever  made  in  this  country  to 
dethrone  Jehovah.  Were  I  to  take  this  oath,  I  would  no 
longer  preach  by  the  authority  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  by 
that  of  an  unbelieving  legislature.  It  would  be  rebellion 
against  my  rightful  Sovereign,  and,  to  save  my  life,  I 
could  not  do  it." 

The  April  term  of  the  court  having  closed,  Smith  re- 
ceived information  that  the  grand  jury  had  indicted  him, 
and  he  was  advised  to  give  the  usual  bond  and  security 
for  his  appearance.  Some  even  urged  him  to  anticipate 
the  time  set  for  his  departure  to  Kentucky,  and  to  go  at 
once,  and  escape  the  annoyance  of  arrest. 

(< No,  friends,"  said  he ;  "I  can  not  go  aboard  a  train  of 
cars  and  endure  the  ride,  with  a  consciousness  that  I  was 
fleeing  as  if  I  had  been  guilty  of  wrong.  I  will  do  right, 
and  fear  nothing." 

On  the  morning  of  the  loth  of  May — the  day  set  for  his 
departure — he  bade  his  children  adieu,  and  started  to  the 
depot.  While  crossing  the  street,  the  sheriff,  who  had  put 
off  the  arrest  till  the  last  moment,  accosted  him. 

"  Mr.  Smith,"  said  he,  "  you  will  have  to  stop.  I  have 
a  capias  against  you ;"  and  he  proceeded  to  read  it. 

"  Mr.  Sheriff,  what  have  I  done  ? " 

"  We  all  know  that  you  are  a  Union  man,  but  you  have 
preached  without  taking  the  oath." 

"  I  have  done  so,"  said  Smith,  "  and  I  shall  preach  on 
without  taking  it.  I  say  this,  not  in  the  spirit  of  resist- 


ARRESTED,  AND  GIVES  BOND.  563 

ance  to  law,  but,  with  the  example  of  the  first  Christians 
before  me,  I  submit  to  law,  and  take  the  penalty ;  /  will 
not  take  the  oath.  You  will  have  no  trouble  in  conducting 
me  to  jail ;  but  tell  my  friends  to  build  them  an  arbor  near 
my  window,  for  I  will  still  try  to  preach  to  them.  You 
can  keep  me,  Mr.  Sheriff,  in  a  chicken-coop  as  well  as  in 
a  jail ;  I  never  flee  from  civilized  man." 

"  Mr.  Smith,"  said  the  officer,  "  I  have  a  penal  bona 
drawn  up,  and  any  one  will  go  on  it  as  your  security. 
If  the  law  permitted,  I  would  do  it  myself." 

"Mr.  Sheriff,  you  can  not  go  on  my  bond.  I  am  well 
assured,  too,  that  there  is  not  a  man  or  woman  in  Mex- 
ico that  would  refuse ;  but  no  one  shall  do  it.  I  will  just 
request  my  son-in-law  to  have  my  baggage  taken  to  his 
house,  and  then  I  will  be  at  your  service." 

His  son-in-law,  Mr.  Ringo,  in  the  meantime,  had  learned 
what  was  going  on,  and,  coming  up  at  the  moment,  received 
directions  concerning  the  baggage.  The  sheriff  handed  him 
the  bond. 

"Father,"  said  he,  "I  want  you  to  sign  this ;  I  will  attend 
to  every  thing  else.  Take  the  cars,  as  you  purposed,  and 
go  on  to  Kentucky ;  every  thing  will  be  right." 

"  Do  so,"  urged  the  sheriff ;  "  it  is  all  that  is  necessary." 

"  Mr.  Ringo,"  said  the  old  man,  "  I  would  do  as  much  for 
you  as  for  any  man  in  the  world,  for  you  have  always  been 
kind  to  me ;  but  I  can  not  gratify  you  now." 

Just  then  he  was  taken  aside,  and  informed  that  one  hun- 
dred men  at  least  had  resolved  to  deliver  him,  at  the  risk 
of  life,  if  he  should  be  thrown  into  prison.  Blood  would 
doubtless  be  shed  in  the  attempt,  and  possibly  some  of  his 
own  friends  might  fall.  He  reflected  a  moment,  and  fal- 
tered ;  his  resolution  gave  way,  and,  with  a  hand  shaking 
with  the  infirmities  of  more  than  eighty  years,  he  put  his 
reluctant  mark  to  the  bond,  and,  with  a  sort  of  dissatisfied 


564  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

conscience,  stepped  into  the  cars,  and  came  on  safe  to 
Kentucky. 

The  bond  was  given  for  his  appearance  on  the  I5th  of 
October,  1 866 — the  very  day  on  which  he  would  complete 
his  eighty-second  year;  but  the  trial  was  postponed  till 
April  following.  In  the  meantime,  the  oath  was  set  aside 
by  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  Elder  Smith  was, 
on  motion  of  the  District-Attorney,  Mr.  Boulware,  dis- 
charged at  the  April  term  of  the  Circuit  Court. 

The  winter  of  1866-7,  Elder  Smith  spent  in  Kentucky; 
but  in  March  following,  he  made  his  arrangements  to  re- 
turn to  Missouri.  He  seemed  to  have  a  premonition  at 
the  time  that  he  would  never  see  his  friends  in  Kentucky 
again ;  yet  the  anticipation  that  he  would  soon  be  with 
Christ,  whom  he  had  faithfully  served  for  more  than  sixty 
years,  filled  him  with  serene  cheerfulness,  and  he  loved  to 
talk  of  his  decease.  He  called  for  the  last  time  to  see  the 
friend  who  was  then  engaged  in  preparing  his  memoirs  at 
Ashland,  near  Lexington,  Ky.  He  spoke  of  his  probable 
death  in  Missouri — of  the  disposition  to  be  made  of  his  re- 
mains— of  his  funeral,  and,  with  eyes  suffused  with  tender- 
ness, he  alluded  to  older  friends,  then  living,  that  had  stood 
by  him  for  fifty  years,  whom,  perhaps,  he  would  never 
see  again  in  the  flesh. 

He  sat  at  the  fireside  at  Ashland  among  those  who  were 
to  him  as  children ;  and  his  mind,  kindling  with  the  hope 
of  the  Christian,  arose  to  the  contemplation  of  that  sub- 
limest  of  all  historic  scenes,  the  Transfiguration.  For  an 
hour,  he  sat  and  described  the  mount,  the  trembling  dis- 
ciples, the  heavenly  visitants,  and  the  glory  that  invested 
him  at  whose  feet  law-giver  and  prophet  laid  down  their 
honors. 

"His  raiment,"  said  he,  "was  exceeding  white  as  snow. 
I  once  saw  the  fields  and  forests  robed  by  a  sleety  storm 


IMPRESSIVE  CONVERSATION.  56$ 

in  marvelous  splendor ;  the  morning  sun  arose  without  a 
cloud,  and  shone  upon  a  world  of  ice — the  snow  itself  was 
dim.  There  is  a  brilliancy  whiter  than  snow,  and  it  clothed 
the  Son  of  God  upon  the  holy  mount." 

Inspired  with  his  theme,  he  seemed  to  hear  the  very 
words  which  the  glorified  spoke  concerning  the  decease 
which  Jesus  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem.  He  carried 
his  little  audience,  with  the  charms  of  dramatic  art,  to 
Gethsemane  and  to  the  cross.  Cords  and  spikes  and  ham- 
mers lay  around,  and,  amid  the  angry  surges  of  the  mul- 
titude, Jesus  sighs  out  the  tender  prayer,  "  Forgive  them, 
Father!" 

"I  love  to  think,"  said  he,  "that  my  life  should  spring 
from  his  death ;  my  healing,  from  his  wounds ;  my  glory, 
from  his  shame.  If  God  forsake  him  not,  I  can  not  be 
accepted.  If  thorns  press  not  his  temples,  I  can  never 
wear  a  crown  of  glory.  Now,  in  the  grave  he  lies ;  he 
must  conquer  death,  or  I  must  sleep  forever.  If  there  ever 
was  a  time  when  all  the  harps  of  heaven  were  still,  and 
not  one  note  of  angel  music  sounded  through  the  skies, 
'twas  when  that  lifeless,  mangled  form  was  lying  in  the 
rich  man's  tomb  !  But  the  voice  of  God  pierces  the  gloom 
and  silence  of  the  grave ;  angels  attend  upon  his  second 
birth  ;  with  a  glorious  escort,  he  passes  upward  in  his 
chariot  of  clouds,  and  enters  in  through  the  everlasting 
gates.  Those  doors  were  closed  when  Adam  fell ;  they 
now  receive  the  conqueror  of  sin  and  death.  And,  glo- 
rious thought !  they  are  still  unbarred  ;  and  I,  and  you,  and 
all  that  follow  him  in  life,  shall  one  day  enter  through  the 
gates  into  the  everlasting  city  of  our  God." 

He  passed  on  next  day  to  Georgetown,  and  thence  to 
Frankfort.  Here  he  rested  for  the  night  in  the  hospita- 
ble mansion  of  John  L.  Moore.  This — March  I4th — was 
the  last  night  that  he  ever  spent  in  Kentucky.  He  was 

I 


LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

wholly  unattended  on  his  journey,  and,  knowing  the  anxiety 
of  his  friends,  he  wrote  to  them  from  this  point  that  all 
was  well  with  him  thus  far.  He  remembered,  too,  that 
there  was  in  the  city  a  negro  boy  that  had  once  waited 
on  him  ;  he  now  sent  for  him,  and  gave  him  money,  some 
counsel,  a  blessing,  and  a  last  farewell.  Next  morning,  he 
bade  adieu  to  his  friends  in  Frankfort,  and  set  out  for 
Missouri. 

Through  the  summer  and  fall  of  that  year,  he  preached 
far  and  near,  as  opportunity  offered  for  doing  good,  visit- 
ing the  counties  of  Audrain,  Callaway,  Boone,  Warren, 
Pike,  and  Monroe.  The  following  letter  from  Elder  D.  T. 
Wright,  editor  of  the  Pioneer,  presents  an  interesting  pic- 
ture of  the  brave  old  man,  forgetful  of  age  and  bodily 
decrepitude  in  his  zeal  for  the  cause : 

CHILLICOTHE,  Mo.,  October  15,  1867. 

JOHN  AUGUSTUS  WILLIAMS: 

DEAR  BROTHER — Our  venerable  and  beloved  brother,  John 
Smith,  has  been  with  us  nearly  two  weeks,  preaching  the  Gos- 
pel of  Christ  with  the  zeal  and  ability  that  would  have  done 
him  credit  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago.  He  arrived  here  to  at- 
tend the  Consultation  on  the  3d  inst.,  and  left  on  Monday  the 
1 4th.  At  first,  I  mistook  his  physical  strength,  and  did  not 
give  him  the  opportunity  to  speak  as  often  in  the  forepart  of 
the  meeting  as  I  should  have  done.  His  strength,  for  one  of 
his  age,  is  indeed  remarkable,  and  the  presence  of  mind  and  the 
ability  he  manifests  are  truly  astonishing.  He  was  listened  to 
by  large  audiences  with  the  deepest  interest.  On  one  occasion, 
he  mounted  on  a  bench  while  the  invitation  hymn  was  being 
sung,  and  exhorted  the  people  to  come  to  Jesus,  with  the  pathos 
and  strength  of  a  young  man.  Some  twenty  odd  were  added 
to  the  Church  while  he  was  with  us.  One  of  our  best  citizens, 
who  was  upward  of  seventy  years  of  age,  came  forward  at  the  close 
of  one  of  John  Smith's  discourses;  he  arose  in  the  pride  and 


HE  TRIES  THE  SPIRITS.  $6? 

dignity  of  manhood,  though  bowed  with  years,  and,  for  the  first 
time  in  his  life,  confessed  Christ.  Brother  Smith  took  his 
confession,  and  the  next  morning  I  immersed  him.  Brother 
Smith's  health  is  good,  and  he  is  one  of  the  most  cheerful  and 
happy  men  I  have  ever  seen.  He  speaks  of  the  future  with  a 
familiarity  that  is  most  affecting  indeed;  such  strong  and  en- 
nobling faith  I  have  never  seen  manifested  by  any  man  before. 
The  Lord  be  praised  for  this  illustrious  hero  of  the  faith  in 
the  nineteenth  century. 

D.  T.  WRIGHT. 

The  last  error  that  John  Smith  came  in  conflict  with 
was  Spiritualism.  In  the  fall  of  1867,  a  woman  from  some 
of  the  New  England  States  delivered  a  series  of  lectures 
on  that  subject  in  Mexico.  At  the  instance  of  his  son-in- 
law,  the  venerable  Smith  was  present.  The  lecturer,  hav- 
ing heard  much  of  her  distinguished  auditor,  approached 
him  at  the  close  of  one  of  her  addresses,  and  demanded 
his  opinion  of  the  matter. 

"  I  hold  myself  ready,  madam,"  he  promptly  replied,  "  to 
prove,  at  any  time,  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  an  intel- 
gent  audience,  that  the  whole  thing  is  from  the  devil." 

When  this  remark  was  noised  abroad,  a  number  of 
citizens  solicited  him  to  appoint  a  time  to  address  them  on 
the  subject,  and  assured  him  that  he  should  have  a  full 
house  and  a  patient  hearing.  He  accordingly  announced 
to  his  congregation,  on  Sunday,  that,  if  it  would  be  agree- 
able, he  would  deliver  a  discourse  on  Spiritualism  on  the 
next  Lord's  day,  and  would  hold  himself  bound  to  prove 
from  the  Bible  that  it  was  all  of  and  from  the  devil. 

The  day,  which  was  some  time  in  January,  arrived,  and, 
in  the  opinion  of  many  that  heard  him,  he  fully  redeemed 
his  promise.  They  declared  that  such  an  array  of  scrip- 
tural testimony  they  had  never  heard  presented  on  any 
subject. 


568  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

After  closing  his  argument,  he  took  a  seat,  as  was  his 
custom,  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  facing  the  congregation. 
Just  as  the  song  was  concluded,  a  lady,  who  was  a  Spirit- 
ualist, and  who  was  occupying  a  seat  immediately  to  the 
left  of  the  stand,  arose,  and,  with  closed  eyes,  as  in  a  trance, 
began  to  reply  to  the  argument  which  she  had  just  heard, 
saying  that  it  was  wicked  thus  to  malign  the  spirits  that 
had  been  sent  hither  to  warn  those  in  the  form.  The 
brethren  were  dumb  with  amazement ;  they  knew  not  what 
to  say  or  to  do,  and  the  whole  audience  became  restless 
with  embarrassment.  "If  Father  Smith,"  whispered  a 
brother  to  another  at  his  side,  "can  not  deliver  us  from 
this  dilemma,  the  Lord  only  knows  what  will  become  of  us." 

The  old  man  just  then  slowly  put  his  hand  into  his 
pocket,  drew  forth  his  tobacco-box,  took  a  chew,  and  then 
deliberately  returned  the  box  to  its  accustomed  place.  Turn- 
ing to  the  woman,  with  a  motion  of  his  palsied  hand,  and, 
in  his  peculiar  tone  of  voice  that  betrayed  a  little  impa- 
tience, but  not  the  least  trace  of  ill  humor  or  embarrass- 
ment, he  said: 

"Oh!  we  don't  want  to  be  interrupted  now  with  such 
stuff  as  that." 

"  Excuse  me,"  said  the  medium,  who  was  now  sitting 
with  her  head  thrown  back,  her  bonnet  fallen  off,  and  her 
eyes  still  closed ;  "  excuse  me,"  she  said,  "  I  am  not  re- 
sponsible for  what  I  say;  I  have  no  control  over  my- 
self." 

"Well,"  said  he,  "you  are  in  a  bad  fix  if  you  have  no 
control  over  yourself,  and  you  had  better  go  home." 

She  immediately  arose  to  her  feet,  and  stepped  forward ; 
extending  her  hand  to  him,  which,  however,  he  refused 
.  to  take,  she  said : 

"  Well,  I  will  go.  Farewell,  my  brother ;  I  hope  to  meet 
you  in  another  world." 


CASTS  OUT  A  SPIRIT.  569 

"  It  depends,  madam,  on  which  world  you  are  going  to," 
said  he,  "whether  I  wish  to  meet^<?#  or  not." 

At  this,  she  seemed  to  get  angry,  and  started  abruptly 
down  the  aisle.  Just  as  she  passed  out  at  the  door,  he 
closed  the  scene  by  saying: 

"  I  raised  the  devil,  and  have  now  cast  him  out ! " 


57O  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 


CHAPTER  LI. 

With  his  Daughter,  Mrs.  Ringo — Illness — Last  Words — Death — His  Character — 
His  Grave. 

DURING  the  winter  of  1867-8,  the  health  of  Elder  Smith 
was  unusually  good.  In  the  month  of  January,  he  went 
on  the  cars  to  Wellsville,  and  thence  in  a  sleigh  to  Middle- 
town,  a  distance  of  twelve  miles,  to  attend  a  debate  be- 
tween Elder  Ford  and  a  Methodist  preacher ;  and,  though 
he  exposed  himself  to  more  fatigue  and  rough  weather 
than  usual,  he  was  afterward  more  active  and  cheerful  than 
he  had  been  for  some  time. 

The  Qth  of  February,  1 868,  was  one  of  the  coldest  days 
of  that  winter.  It  was  Sunday,  and,  notwithstanding  the 
weather,  the  venerable  man  remarked,  at  breakfast,  that  he 
would  go  to  the  Sunday-school  that  morning,  and  preach, 
as  usual,  at  the  regular  hour.  Remonstrance  was  in  vain, 
and  refusing  a  carriage,  he  started  early,  and  walked  over 
the  icy  path  to  the  meeting-house. 

Those  who  heard  his  discourse  that  day  will  never  forget 
the  power  and  zeal  with  which  he  spoke ;  it  was  the  last, 
and  one  of  the  best  discourses  that  he  ever  delivered.  The 
day  grew  colder  every  hour.  When  he  returned  home  in 
the  early  afternoon,  his  bloodless,  shivering  frame  alarmed 
his  daughter,  and  she  hastened,  with  much  concern,  to  ad- 
minister a  stimulant. 


HIS  ILLNESS.  571 

"  I  do  not  remember,"  he  remarked  to  her,  "  that  I  have 
ever  been  so  cold  in  all  my  life." 

A  cup  of  hot  coffee  was  prepared ;  and  after  his  usual 
meal,  he  retired  to  his  room,  and  fell  asleep.  He  awoke 
somewhat  refreshed,  and  would  have  gone  out  again  to 
meeting  that  night,  but  all  joined  their  entreaties,  and  per- 
suaded him  to  stay  at  home.  He  retired  early,  but  the 
morning  found  him  suffering  intensely  from  inflammation. 
Dr.  Ringo,  who  lived  in  the  house,  was  promptly  sum- 
moned, but  he  continued  to  grow  worse,  in  spite  of  the 
tenderest  nursing  and  the  most  assiduous  medical  atten- 
tion. Other  physicians  were  called  in,  at  length,  but  only 
partial  relief  was  found ;  his  disease  seemed  to  baffle  all 
human  skill.  Between  his  paroxysms,  during  the  first 
week  of  his  illness,  he  lay  in  a  stupor  from  which  he  could 
hardly  be  aroused. 

On  Tuesday,  the  i8th,  his  mind  became  more  active, 
and  his  voice  more  natural.  This  gave  his  anxious  friends 
some  hope;  and,  in  fact,  for  several  days,  he  seemed,  at 
least,  to  grow  no  worse.  When  not  suffering,  nor  too 
heavy  with  stupor,  his  remarks  were  strikingly  character- 
istic ;  even  his  genial  humor  would  sometimes  well  up  un- 
consciously, though  from  a  heart  already  touched  by  death. 

He  talked  cheerfully  of  his  approaching  dissolution,  and 
seemed  even  to  rejoice  that  his  race  was  nearly  run.  They 
would  sometimes  express  to  him  a  hope  that  he  would  soon 
be  well ;  but  he  begged  them  not  to  give  him  such  assur- 
ance ;  for  it  would  make  him  unhappy  to  think  that,  after 
suffering  so  much,  he  would  have  to  endure  it  all  again, 
when  he  came  at  last  to  die. 

"Still,"  he  would  say,  "while  I  ought  not  to  wish  to 
live,  I  would  like  to  look  a  few  more  times  upon  the  sun." 

He  desired  such  of  his  brethren  as  should  mention  him 
in  their  prayers,  to  petition  that  he  might  be  reconciled  to 


5/2  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

his  Father's  will,  whatever  it  might  be.  His  conversation 
was  not  characterized  by  that  enthusiasm  or  ecstasy  which 
is  sometimes  manifested  by  dying  saints ;  he  was  calm, 
thoughtful,  and  self-possessed. 

"My  prospects,"  he  said  to  Elder  Wm.  J.  Mason,  "are 
entirely  satisfactory.  I  have  no  fears,  whatever,  about  the 
future.  I  am  nearly  home." 

"What  a  great  failure  after  all,"  he  remarked,  "would 
my  long  and  checkered  life  have  been,  but  for  this  glorious 
hope  of  a  hereafter!" 

On  Tuesday,  the  25th,  he  sent  for  all  the  members  of 
the  family  who  were  near  him,  and  made  such  a  disposi- 
tion of  his  temporal  affairs  as  he  thought  best,  and  then 
remarked  : 

"  I  am  as  calm  and  as  much  composed  as  I  ever  was  in 
my  life;  and  I  leave  the  earth  with  but  one  single  regret: 
my  sons-in-law  are  not  Christians !  What  would  this  whole 
world  avail  me  now,  if  I  had  not  tried  to  live  a  Christian ! " 

Turning  to  Mr.  Ringo,  and  grasping  his  hand,  he  ex- 
claimed :  "  My  son !  my  son ! " — But  his  feelings  overcame 
him,  and  he  could  speak  no  more. 

It  should  be  mentioned  that  Mrs.  MARY  VANCE  STEELE, 
his  youngest  daughter,  who  was  then  residing  in  or  near 
Mexico,  was,  also,  in  a  very  feeble  state  of  health  at  this 
time,  and  that  JONATHAN,  his  oldest  son,  was  lying  at  St. 
Louis  in  the  last  stage  of  consumption. 

Elder  Smith  now  expressed  a  wish  to  see  his  brother, 
John  Augustus  Williams,  of  Kentucky ;  and  he  requested 
his  daughter  to  write  to  him  to  come  and  be  with  him  in 
his  last  hours — to  assist  in  conveying  his  remains  to  Ken- 
tucky, and  to  deliver  his  funeral  discourse  at  Lexington.* 


*  The  news  of  Elder  Smith's  extreme  illness,  and  of  his  dying  request,  did  not 
reach  the  author  at  Harrodsburg,  Ky.,  till  it  was  too  late.     A  telegraphic  dis- 


HIS  DEATH.  573 

To  Elder  J.  T.  Brooks,  who  had  called,  he  said :  "  Do  n't 
you  wish,  Brother  Brooks,  that  you  were  as  near  your 
journey's  end  as  /  am  ?" 

On  Friday,  the  28th,  he  remarked  to  Mr.  Guthrie,  a 
Baptist  minister,  who  approached  his  bedside :  "  I  am  suf- 
fering greatly,  but  not  too  much,  I  suppose.  I  am  nearly 
well,  and  will  soon  be  home." 

On  that  day,  indeed,  he  grew  much  worse,  and  his  friends 
assembled  in  the  room,  for  they  knew  that  the  hour  of  his 
deliverance  had  come.  He  called  them  each  by  name  to 
his  bedside,  and,  as  they  approached,  he  pressed  their 
hands  affectionately;  but  his  emotions  were  unutterable, 
and  he  was  silent.  In  a  little  while,  he  asked  to  be  raised 
up  and  supported  in  his  bed.  He  then  called  his  daughter 
to  him,  and,  putting  his  arms  tenderly  around  her  neck, 
said  :  "  Daughter,  I  want  some  music  to  cheer  me  through 
this  dark  Valley." 

Brethren  were  immediately  sent  for,  and  their  trembling 
voices  cheered  the  dying  saint  with  that  favorite  old  song 
that  breathes  of  hope  and  Heaven  : 

"  Since  I  can  read  my  title  clear, 
To  mansions  in  the  skies." 

After  this  he  rested  more  quietly  ;  and  then,  calmly  and 
sweetly  breathing  out  his  life,  he  fell  asleep  in  Christ  at 
half-past  eight  o'clock,  P.  M. 

On  Monday,  March  2d,  uncertain  rumors  reached  the 
brethren  at  Lexington,  Kentucky,  that  John  Smith  was 
dead,  and  that  his  remains  would  reach  that  place  from 
Missouri  on  the  following  day.  On  Tuesday  morning, 


patch  about  the  same  time  informed  him  that  his  venerable  friend  was  dead ;  but 
Mr.  Ringo  was  already  on  his  way  to  Kentucky  with  his  remains.  After  due 
conference,  however,  with  the  friends  of  the  deceased,  he  delivered  the  memorial 
discourse  at  Somerset,  in  Montgomery,  on  the  third  Lord's  day  in  May  following. 


574  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

however,  dispatches  were  received  announcing  that  his 
remains  would  arrive  by  the  eleven-o'clock  train  on  Wed- 
nesday. Every  arrangement  was  made  to  pay  to  his 
memory  a  last  tribute  of  affection.  The  thought  that  he 
was  now  gone,  who  had  been  so  long  a  wise  father  in 
Israel,  filled  every  heart  with  sorrow.  J.  W.  McGarvey 
writes : 

A  committee  of  brethren,  with  hearse  and  carriages,  met  the 
remains  at  the  depot,  and  bore  them  to  the  church.  A  large 
audience  was  assembled,  including  a  number  of  preaching  breth- 
ren. It  had  been  agreed  that  some  of  these  should  follow  each 
other  in  short  addresses.  Brother  Graham  was  called  upon  to 
open  the  exercises  with  reading  and  prayer.  Brother  Elley, 
who  had  been  longer  acquainted  with  the  deceased,  and  had 
labored  more  with  him  in  early  years,  than  any  present,  then 
made  a  brief  and  appropriate  address.  He  was  followed  by 
several  others  in  the  expression  of  such  sentiments  as  the  occa- 
sion suggested.  There  was  no  fulsome  eulogy;  for  how  could 
such  be  spoken  over  the  remains  of  John  Smith?  but  the  breth- 
ren spoke  of  incidents  in  his  life  which  reflected  the  greatness 
of  his  soul,  and  joyfully  bade  adieu  to  the  old  warrior  as  one 
who  had  fought  long  enough  and  well  enough  to  be  allowed  an 
eternal  rest. 

It  was  expected  by  the  members  of  his  family  that  Brother 
John  Aug.  Williams,  who  is  his  biographer,  would  be  present 
on  the  occasion  to  deliver  a  formal  oration;  but  the  shortness 
of  the  notice,  not  admitting  of  such  preparation  as  the  subject 
demands,  rendered  this  impracticable. 

After  the  brief  but  touching  services  at  the  church,  the  re- 
mains were  borne  to  the  cemetery,  followed  by  a  long  proces- 
sion of  brethren  and  sisters. 

Elder  Smith  left  few  written  records  of  any  part  of  his 
eventful  life.  He  loved  the  approbation  of  his  brethren, 
but  he  was  wholly  indifferent  to  what  the  world  calls  fame. 


CHARACTER.  575 

No  man  of  equal  merit  was  ever  more  modest;  not  that 
he  was  characterized  by  any  weak  and  timid  self-distrust, 
for  he  properly  estimated  his  peculiar  gifts;  but  his  was 
a  modesty  that  accomplished  great  things  in  a  boastless 
manner,  without  parade,  and  for  no  reward.  Few  men 
ever  achieved  so  many  single-handed  victories ;  and  yet 
he  never  put  a  trumpet  to  his  lips  to  sound  abroad  his 
triumphs. 

He  was  honest,  in  the  noblest  sense  of  the  term — hon- 
est before  God,  toward  his  fellow-men,  and  with  himself. 
His  candor  was  perfect;  he  would  not  disguise  himself 
by  the  thinnest  gauze  of  affectation  or  deceit;  he  was 
ever  guileless  and  transparent.  With  all  his  humor,  he 
never  toyed  with  truth,  nor  pointed  a  jest  at  her  expense. 
Exact  in  his  language,  scrupulously  punctual  to  his  ap- 
pointments, cautious  and  precise  in  his  statements,  and 
faithful  to  every  promise,  he  was  ever  the  manly  imper- 
sonation of  honor  and  truth. 

He  was  singularly  conscientious;  not  like  Saul  the 
persecutor,  who,  with  his  eyes  closed  against  the  light, 
dreamed  that  he  was  doing  God's  service,  but  he  was 
conscientious  in  the  higher  sense  of  seeking  the  light, 
and  walking  firmly  in  it.  He  was,  of  course,  without  the 
slightest  tinge  of  bigotry.  His  former  religious  opinions 
had  been  early  inwrought  into  his  very  being;  and  yet 
he  was  the  first  to  see  his  errors ;  and,  when  the  light 
came,  he  followed  its  guidance,  at  the  sacrifice  of  friends, 
and  of  every  worldly  interest  and  honor. 

To  support  such  conscientiousness,  and  to  give  it  power 
and  majesty  before  the  people,  he  had  the  most  undaunted 
moral  courage.  When  the  cause  he  loved  was  in  jeop- 
ardy, or  any  truth  that  he  held  was  assailed,  he  regarded 
neither  danger  nor  suffering  in  its  defense.  Whether  be 
attacked  error,  or  vindicated  truth,  he  never  counted  his 


5/6  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

enemies ;  it  mattered  not  to  him  whether  they  were  ten 
or  ten  thousand  strong;  he  went  within  their  lines,  dal- 
lied with  their  sentries,  and  sat,  composed  or  defiant,  at 
their  very  camp-fires.  He  often  fought  error  on  her  own 
ground,  and  was,  therefore,  sometimes  aggressive  in  his 
warfare ;  but,  whether  he  assailed  or  defended,  his  moral 
courage  was  sublime. 

With  all  his  manly  and  heroic  virtues,  he  was  as  gentle 
and  simple-hearted  as  a  child.  Benevolence  tempered  down 
the  harsher  elements  of  his  nature,  and  mellowed  his  char- 
acter with  a  pleasing,  sunny  softness.  Naturally  of  a  quick 
and  impulsive  temper,  he  had  learned  patience  from  much 
affliction.  Age,  which  usually  dries  up  the  fountains  of 
youthful  love,  gave  freshness  and  volume  to  his  affections. 
No  one  ever  grew  old  more  gracefully.  Time  whitened 
his  locks  and  furrowed  his  brow,  but  the  frosts  of  more 
than  eighty  winters  never  chilled  his  affection ;  decay  it- 
self put  neither  stain  nor  wrinkle  on  his  heart.  There 
was  a  youthful  freshness,  a  bloom  and  warmth,  about  his 
love,  that  made  the  dear  old  man  companionable  in  ex- 
treme old  age.  In  truth,  only  his  fleshly  tabernacle 
seemed  to  fade  with  years ;  the  spirit  that  dwelt  within 
resisted  the  influences  of  outward  decay. 

Even  little  children  loved  him,  and  sought  his  presence 
as  they  sought  the  sunshine.  He  loved  them  too — not 
with  the  doting  fondness  of  a  feeble  old  man — but  for  their 
guilelessness  and  faith. 

A  public  man  thus  truthful  and  intrepid,  would  neces- 
sarily have  provoked  opposition,  notwithstanding  his  ami- 
ability. Even  John  Smith  had  his  enemies.  Who,  then, 
may  hope  to  live  without  them  ?  Still,  he  rarely  made  an 
enemy  on  his  own  account.  Those  who  opposed  him, 
hated  the  cause  that  he  advocated,  and  struck,  through 
him,  at  what  they  would  destroy.  Toward  such  foes,  how- 


CHARACTER.  577 

ever,  he  felt  no  malice  or  revenge.  But  against  the  im- 
postor and  the  hypocrite,  his  indignation  was  ever  passion- 
ately aroused,  and  he  pursued  them  with  the  most  unspar- 
ing lash.  He  was  especially  watchful  against  those  insid- 
ious foes  that  sometimes  creep  unawares  into  the  Church 
to  corrupt  its  members  or  disturb  its  peace;  none  could 
play  the  part  of  a  pretender  or  schismatic  in  his  presence, 
and  be  safe ;  for  then,  indeed,  the  lion  of  his  nature  was 
terribly  aroused. 

While  such  was  his  temper  toward  those  who  must  be 
called  his  enemies,  his  tender,  faithful  and  unselfish  devo- 
tion to  his  brethren  was  a  beautiful  and  prominent  trait  of 
his  character.  His  heart  never  let  go  a  friend.  If  that 
friend  prospered,  he  rejoiced,  and  if  reverses  overtook  him, 
he  flew  to  his  relief.  If  a  brother,  in  his  weakness,  stum- 
bled, or  even  fell — no  matter  how  low — if  only  honest,  John 
Smith  still  clung  like  a  brother  to  him. 

While  he  was  one  of  the  most  independent  and  self-re- 
liant of  men,  he  was,  at  the  same  time,  one  of  the  most 
grateful.  Those  yet  live  who  won  the  heart  of  this  good 
man  by  some  little  favors  done  him  more  than  fifty  years 
ago  ;  and,  yet,  in  all  that  flight  of  years,  those  deeds  of 
kindness  never  were  forgotten — gratitude  glowed  like  a 
vestal  fire  in  his  heart  till  death. 

Unlearned  in  books,  his  mind  drew  all  its  nourishment 
from  the  Book  of  books  ;  and  in  his  love  and  knowledge 
of  the  Scriptures  lay  the  foundation  of  all  his  greatness — 
the  secret  of  his  influence  and  his  power. 

He  rests  from  his  labors  by  the  side  of  his  wife,  among 
many  of  the  beautiful  and  the  gifted  of  Kentucky.  Close 
by  him  sleeps  JOHNSON,  the  Evangelist ;  and  the  statue  of 
CLAY  looks  down  from  its  lofty  pedestal  upon  his  humbler 
grave.  A  simple  but  tasteful  shaft  of  marble  marks  his 
resting-place ;  and  the  pilgrim  brother  that  may  seek  the 
49 


578  LIFE  OF  ELDER  JOHN  SMITH. 

hallowed  spot,   will  read   the   few  but   expressive   words 
which  filial  piety  has  inscribed : 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

JOHN   SMITH, 

AN  ELDER  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST. 

BORN 
OCTOBER    I5TH,    1784; 

DIED 
FEBRUARY  28TH,  1868. 

True,  genial,  and  pious,  the  good  loved,  and  all  respected  him.     Strong  through 

affliction,  and  wise  by  the  study  of  the  Word — he  gave  up  the  Creed  of 

his  fathers  for  the  sake  of  that  Word.      By  its  power,  he  turned 

many  from  error  5  in   its  light  he  walked,  and  in  its 

consolations,   he  triumphantly    died. 


In  all  his  sacrifices  and  service,  his  companion  shared.     She  gave  her  life  to  God, 
and  her  death  was  precious  in  his  sight. 

NANCY    SMITH 

WAS   BORN 
NOVEMBER     I5TH,     1792; 

DIED 
NOVEMBER   4TH,    l86l. 


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rT^HIS  work  is  the  result  of  forty  years'  extensive  practice  in  Fam 
JL      ilies  and  Hospitals.     It  adheres  to  the  established  practice, 
discarding  every  thing  that  has  not  stood  the  test  of  experience. 

It  is  written  in  PLAIN  LANGUAGE,  that  all  can  understand,  and  is  by 
fax  the  MOST  COMPLETE,  RELIABLE,  and  PRACTICAL  GUIDE  FOR  FAM- 
ILIES yet  published. 

A  distinctive  feature  of  this  work  is  its 


Guide  to  Diagnosis, 


By  means  of  which  any  one  can,  by  observing  the  symptoms,  tell  what 
form  of  Disease  is  operating  in  the  system,  and  so  can  make  use  of 
the  proper  remedies. 

It  forms  a  large  octavo  volume  of  eight  hundred  and  ten  pagat 
strongly  bound  in  embossed  leather. 

SOLD  BY  AGENTS  ONLY, 
To  WHOM  LIBERAL  INDUCEMENTS  ARE  OFFERED. 

Address 

R.  W.  CARROLL  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS, 

117  West  Fourth-Street, 

CINCINNATI. 


A  correct  guide  in  all  matters  relating  to 

ODD-FELLOWSHIP. 

BY 

JAMES  L.  RIDGELY, 
Grand  Sec'y  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  United  States, 

AND 

PASCHAL  DONALDSON, 
Past  D.  D.  Grand  Master  of  Grand  Lodge  Northern  New  York. 

REVISED  BY 

JOHN  E.  CHAMBERLAIN, 
Past  Grand,  Grand  Messenger  to  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  United  States. 

388  pages,  bound  in  Morocco,  Tuck,  Gilt  Edges,  with 

PYER  ONE  HUNDRED  BEAUTIFUL  ENGRAVINGS. 

PRICE,  $1.50  per  Copy. 

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JUST  ISSUED. 


THE  LIVING  PULPIT 


OF  THE 


CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


A  Superb  Volume,  containing  Twenty-Eight  Discourses  from  as  many 

Eminent  Preachers  among  the  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST.     With 

an  elegant  STEEL  PORTRAIT  OF  EACH  CONTRIBUTOR, 

accompanied  by  a  brief  Biographical  Sketch. 

ARRANGED  AND  EDITED  BY  IV.  T.  MOORE. 


CONTENTS. 

The  Good  Confession,  by  D.  S.  Burnet 

Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  the  Theanthropos,  by  H.  T.  Anderson. 

Atonement,  by  Thomas  Munnell. 

Jesus  the  First  and  the  Last,  by  L.  L.  Pinkerton. 

Reconciliation,  by  James  Challen. 

Chrisfs  Precious  Invitation,  by  L.  B.  Wilkes. 

The  Conditions  of  the  Gospel  Reasonable,  by  G.  W.  Longan. 

What  must  I  do  to  be  Saved?  by  O.  A.  Burgess. 

The  Dispensation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  W.  K.  Pendleton, 

Regeneration,  by  Robert  Graham. 

Chrisfs  Conversation  with  Nicodemus,  by  Moses  E.  Lard. 

Baptism — its  Action,  Subject,  and  Design,  by  J.  S.  Sweeney; 

Baptism  Essential  to  Salvation,  by  W.  H.  Hopson. 

Building  on  the  One  Foundation,  by  T.  P.  Haley. 

The  Church — Its  Identity,  by  Benjamin  Franklin. 

The  Mission  of  the  Church,  by  Tolbert  Fanning. 

The  Witness  of  the  Spirit,  by  J.  W.  McGarvey. 

The  Priesthood  of  Christ,  by  John  Shackleford. 

77ie  History  of  Redemption  Reproduced  in  the  Redeemed,  by  J.  S.  Lamar. 

Death  and  Life,  by  David  Walk. 

Tlie  Safety  and  Security  of  the  Christian,  by  Robert  Milligan. 

Faith  and  Sight,  by  W.  T.  Moore. 

The  Law  of  Progressive  Development,  by  Isaac  Errett.  > 

Glorying  in  the  Cross  Only,  by  Charles  Louis  Loos. 

The  Love  of  God,  by  William  Baxter. 

Retribution,  by  A.  R.  Benton. 

Conscience  and  Christianity,  by  A.  S.  Hayden. 

The  Judgment  to  Come,  by  Joseph  King. 

An  octavo  volume  of  589  pages ;  bound  in  green  crape  cloth ; 
printed  on  tinted  paper,  $4.75  ;  Library  style,  $5.00. 

Liberal  Terms  to  Canvassing  Agents.        ADDRESS 

R.  W.  CARROLL  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS, 

1x7  Wist  Foitrth-Strtet,  CINCINNA  Tl. 


s/- 

W: 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


Series  9482 


